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Ce  document  est  f  ilin4  au  taux  de  rMuction  indiqu4  ci-dessous. 


lOx 

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y 

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Th*  copy  filmed  h«r«  has  t—n  raproduetd  thanks 
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La  bibliothiquc  des  Archivtt 
nationalai  du  Canada 


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plus  grand  soin.  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
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eonformit*  avac  las  conditions  du  contrat  da 
filmaga. 

Los  axamplairas  originaux  dont  la  couvartura  an 
papiar  aat  ImprimAa  sont  filmAs  9n  commancant 
par  la  pramiar  plat  at  an  tarminant  soit  par  la 
darniira  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'improasion  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  la  sacond 
plat,  aalon  la  caa.  Tous  las  autras  axamplairas 
originaux  aont  filmAs  an  commandant  par  la 
pramiiro  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'improasion  ou  d'illustration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darnidra  paga  qui  comporta  una  talla 
amprainta. 


Tha  last  racordad  frama  on  aach  microfiche 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  — ^  (moaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  symbol  ▼  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Meps.  plataa,  charts,  etc..  mey  be  filmed  at 
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beginning  in  the  upper  left  hend  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bonom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Un  des  aymboles  auivants  apparattra  sur  U 
darniire  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  salon  la 
cas:  la  symbols  — ^  signifia  "A  SUIVRE".  la 
symboie  ▼  signifie  "FIN". 

Lea  cartes,  plenches,  tableaux,  etc.,  pauvant  itra 
fllmte  A  des  taux  da  reduction  diffArants. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atra 
raproduit  en  un  aaui  clichA,  il  est  filmA  A  pertir 
de  I'engle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droits, 
et  de  haut  an  bas.  an  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcossaira.  Las  diagrammas  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthoda. 


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6 

MICROCOPY  RESOIUTION   TiST  CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


■  50      •^™  ■!■ 


1 40 


2.2 
2.0 

1.8 


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1653   East   Main   Street 

(716)   482  -  0300  -  Phone 
(716)   288- 5989 -Fa« 


I 
} 


TI1£  CLEVELAND  £IIA 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  EDITION 

■ 

VOLUME  44 

THE  CHRONICLES 

OF  AMERICA  SERIES 

ALLEN  JOHNSON 

EDITOR 

GERHARD  R.  LOMER 

CHARLES  W.  JEFFERYS 

ASSISTANT  EDITORS 


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ORPFER  CLKVEUSO  IN  mi 

Painting  by  Eaatman  Jofanaun.  In  the  City  Hall.  New  York,  the 
Ptaperty  of  the  Corporation.  Reproduoed  by  courtesy  tt  the  M«- 
nic-ipal  Art  Comaiiarion  of  the  City  ol  New  York. 


I  \ 


THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

A   CHRONICLE   OF  THE 

NEW  ORDER   IN  POLITICS 

BY  HENRY  JONES  FORD 


fork,  the 
the  Mh- 


NEW   HAVEN:    YALE    UNIVERSITY    PRESS 

TORONTO:    GLASGOW,    BROOK    jc    CO. 

LONDON:    HUMPHREY     MILFOR.J 

OXFORD     UNIVERSIT       PRESS 

1919 


Copyright,  1919,  by  Yale  University  Press 


CONTENTS 

I.    A  TRANSITION  PERIOD 

II.    POLITICAL  GROPING  A'i)  PARTY  PLUC 
TUATION 

III.  THE  ADVENT  OF  CLEVELAND 

IV.  A  CONSTITUTIONAL  CRISIS 
V.    PARTY  POLICY  IN  CONGRFAS 

VI.    PRESIDENTIAL  KNIGHT-ERRANTRY 
VII.    THE  PUBLIC  DISCONTENTS 
VIII.    THE  REPUBLICAN  OPPORTUNITY 
IX.    THE  FREE  SILVER  REVOLT 
X.    LAW  AND  ORDER  UPHELD 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 
INDEX 


Page 


1 

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41 

59 

86 

108 

l«8 

150 

171 

194 

itl 

MS 


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1-. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

GROVER  CLEVELAND  IN  1871.  Fainting  by 
Eastman  Johnson.  *  *he  City  Hall,  New  York, 
tl:e  Property  of  the  Corporation.  Reproduced  by 
courtesy  of  the  Municipal  Art  Commisfion  of  the 
City  of  New  York  Frontupitet 

JAMES  A.  GARFIELD.     Photograph  Facing  payr    20 

CHESTER  A,  ARTHUR.     Photograph  "        "        60 

BENJAMIN  HARRISON.     Photograph  in  the  col- 
lection of  L.  C.  Handy,  Washington  "        "'        M 

WILLIAM  McKINLEY.  Photograph  in  the  col- 
lection of  L  C.  Handy,  Washington 

RUTHERFORD  B.  HAYES.  Photograph  in  the 
collection  of  L.  C.  Handy,  Wafihington 

GROVER  CLEVELAND.     Photograph  by  L.  C. 
Handy.  Washington 


I  1 


100 


n» 


189 


i 


li- 


;■ 


IX 


(9     * 


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i  I 

It 


THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 


CHAFfER  I 


A  TRANSITION   PERIOD 


Politicians  at  Washington  very  generally  failed  to 
realize  that  the  advent  of  President  Hayes  marked 
the  dismissal  of  the  issues  of  war  and  reconstruc- 
tion. They  regarded  as  an  episode  what  turned 
out  to  be  the  close  of  an  rrn.  They  saw,  indeed, 
that  public  interest  in  the  old  issues  hud  waned,  but 
they  were  confident  that  this  lack  of  interest  was 
transient.  They  admitted  that  the  emotional  fer- 
vor excited  by  the  war  and  b'.  the  issues  of  human 
right  involved  in  its  results  was  ;>mewhat  damped, 
but  they  believed  that  the  settlement  of  those  is- 
sues was  still  so  incomplete  that  public  interest 
would  surely  rekindle.  For  many  years  the  ruling 
thought  of  thr  Republican  party  leaders  was  to  be 
watchful  of  any  opportunity  to  ply  the  bellows  on 


2  THE  CLEV-EL^ND  ER.\ 

the  embers.  Besides  genuine  concern  over  the  way 
in  which  the  negroes  had  been  divested  of  poHti- 
cal  privileges  conferred  by  national  legislation,  the 
Republicans  felt  a  tingling  sense  of  party  injury. 

The  most  eminent  party  leaders  at  this  time  — 
both  standing  high  as  presidential  possibilities  — 
were  James  G.  Blaine  and  John  Sherman.     In  a 
magazine  article  pubhshed  in  1880  Mr.  Blaine  wrote: 
"As  the  matter  stands,  all  violence  in  the  South  in- 
ures to  the  benefit  of  one  political  party.  .  .  .  Our 
institutions  have  been  tried  by  the  fiery  test  of  war, 
and  have  survived.    It  remains  to  be  seen  whether 
the  attempt  to  govern  the  country  by  the  power  of 
a  'solid  South,'  unlawfully  consolidated,  can  be 
successful.   .    .    .     The  repu'  lie  must  be  strong 
enough,  and  shall  be  strong  enough,  to  protect  the 
weakest  of  its  citizens  in  all  their  rights."    And 
so  late  as  1884,  Mr.  Sherman  earnestly  contended 
for  the  principle  of  national  intervention  in  the 
conduct  of  state  elections.     "The  war,"  he  said, 
"emancipated  and  made  citizens  of  five  million 
people  who  had  been  slaves.     This  was  a  national 
act  and  whether  wisely  or  imprudently  done  it 
must  be  respected  by  the  people  of  all  the  Statcj. 
If  sought  to  be  reversed  in  any  degree  by    '>.e  peo- 
ple of  any  locality  it  is  the  duty  of  the  national 


^■■a 


A  TRANSITION  PERIOD  3 

government  to  make  their  act  respected  by  all 
its  citizens." 

Republican  party  platforms  reiterated  such  opin- 
ions long  after  their  practical  futility  had  become 
manifest.  Indeed,  it  was  a  matter  of  common 
knowledge  that  negro  suffrage  had  been  undone 
by  force  and  fraud;  hardly  more  than  a  per- 
functory denial  of  the  fact  was  ever  made  in  Con- 
gress, and  meanwhile  it  was  a  source  of  jest  and 
anecdote  among  members  of  all  parties  behind  the 
scenes.  Republican  members  were  bantered  by 
Democratic  colleagues  upon  the  way  in  which  pro- 
vision for  Republican  party  advantage  in  the  South 
had  actually  given  to  the  Democratic  party  a 
solid  block  of  sure  electoral  votes.  The  time  at 
last  came  when  a  Southern  Senator,  Benjamin 
Tillman  of  South  Carolina,  blurted  out  in  the  open 
what  had  for  years  been  common  talk  in  private. 
"We  took  the  government  away,"  he  asserted. 
"We  stuffed  ballot  boxes.  We  shot  them.  We 
are  not  ashamed  of  it.  .  .  .  With  that  system 
—  force,  tissue  ballots,  etc.  —  we  got  tired  our- 
selves. So  we  called  a  constitutional  convention, 
and  we  eliminated,  as  I  said,  all  of  the  colored  peo- 
ple we  could  under  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
amendments.    .    .    .     The  brotherhood  of  man 


It 


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4  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

exists  no  longer,  because  you  shoot  negroes  in  Illi- 
nois, when  they  come  in  competition  with  your 
labor,  and  we  shoot  them  in  South  Carolina,  when 
they  come  in  competition  with  us  in  the  matter 
of  elections." 

Such  a  miscarriage  of  Republican  policy  was 
long  a  bitter  grievance  to  the  leaders  of  the  party 
and  incited  them  to  action.  If  they  could  have 
had  their  desire,  they  would  have  used  stringent 
means  to  remedy  the  situation.  Measures  to  en- 
force the  political  rights  of  the  freedmen  were  fre- 
quently agitated,  but  every  force  bill  which  was 
presented  had  to  encounter  a  deep  and  perva' ive 
opposition  not  confined  by  party  lines  but  mani- 
fested even  within  the  Republi  i  party  itself. 
Party  platforms  insisted  upon  the  issue,  but  public 
opinion  steadily  disregarded  it.  Apparently  a  fine 
opportunity  to  redress  this  grievance  was  afforded 
by  the  election  of  President  Harrison  in  1888  upon 
a  platform  declaring  that  the  national  power  of  the 
Democratic  party  was  due  to  "the  suppression  of 
the  ballot  by  a  criminal  nullification  of  the  Con- 
stitution and  laws  of  the  United  States, "  and  de- 
manding "effective  legislation  to  secure  integrity 
and  purity  of  elections. "  But,  although  they  were 
victorious  at  the  polls  that  year,  the  Republican 


mmm 


A  TRANSITION  PERIOD  5 

leaders  were  unable  to  embody  in  legislation  the 
ideal  proposed  in  their  platform.  Of  the  causes  of 
this  failure,  George  F.  Hoar  gives  an  instructive 
account  in  his  Autobiography.  As  chairman  of  the 
Senate  committee  on  privileges  and  elections  he 
was  in  a  por^'tion  to  know  all  the  details  of  the 
legislative  attempts,  the  failure  of  which  compelled 
the  Republican  leaders  to  acquiesce  in  the  decision 
of  public  opinion  against  the  old  issues  and  in  favor 
of  new  issues. 

Senator  Hoar  relates  that  he  made  careful  prep- 
aration of  a  bill  fcr  holding,  under  national  au- 
thority, separate  registrat''''ns  and  elections  for 
members  of  Congress.  But  when  he  consulted  his 
party  associates  in  the  Senate  he  found  most  of 
them  averse  to  an  arrangement  which  would  double 
the  cost  of  elections  and  would  require  citizens  to 
register  at  diflFerent  times  for  federal  elections  and 
for  state  and  municipal  elections.  Senator  Hoar 
thereupon  abandoned  that  bill  and  prepared  an- 
other which  provided  that,  upon  application  to 
court  showing  reasonable  grc  ;'nds,  the  court  should 
appoint  officers  from  both  parties  to  supervise  the 
election.  The  bill  adopted  a  feature  of  electoral 
procedure  which  in  England  has  h"d  a  salutary 
effect.    It  was  provided  that  in  case  of  a  dispute 


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6  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

concerning  an  election  certificate,  the  circuit  court 
of  the  United  States  in  which  the  district  was  situ- 
ated should  hear  the  case  and  should  award  a  cer- 
tificate entitling  the  one  or  other  of  the  contestants 
to  be  placed  on  the  clerk's  roll  and  to  serve  until  the 
House  should  act  on  the  case.  Mr.  Hoar  stated 
that  the  bill  "deeply  excited  the  whole  country," 
and  went  on  to  say  that  "some  worthy  Republican 
senators  became  alarmed.  They  thought,  with  a 
good  deal  of  reason^  that  it  was  better  to  allow  ex- 
isting evils  and  conditions  to  be  cured  by  time,  and 
the  returning  conscience  and  good  sense  of  the 
people,  rather  than  have  the  strife,  the  result  of 
which  must  be  quite  doubtful,  which  the  enactment 
and  enforcement  of  this  la^,  however  moderate 
and  just,  would  inevitably  create."  The  exist- 
ence of  this  attitude  of  mind  made  party  advocacy 
of  the  bill  a  hopeless  undertaking  and,  though  it 
was  favorably  reported  on  August  7,  1890,  no  fur- 
ther action  was  taken  during  that  session.  At  the 
December  session  it  was  taken  up  for  consideration, 
but  after  a  few  days  of  debate  a  motion  to  lay  it 
aside  was  carried  by  the  Democrats  with  the  assist- 
ance of  enough  Republicans  to  give  them  a  majority. 
This  was  the  end  of  force  bills,  and  during  Presi- 
dent Cleveland's  second  term  the  few  remaining 


■■ 


iHiiai 


M 


A  TRANSITION  PERIOD  7 

statutes  giving  authority  for  federal  interference 
in  such  matters  was  repealed  under  the  lead  of 
Senator  Hill  of  New  York.  With  the  passage  of 
this  act,  the  Republican  party  leaders  for  the  first 
time  abandoned  all  purpose  of  attempting  to  se- 
cure by  national  legislation  the  political  privileges 
of  the  negroes.  This  determination  was  announced 
in  the  Senate  by  Mr.  Hoar  and  was  assented  to  by 
Senator  Chandler  of  New  Hampshire,  who  had 
been  a  zealous  champion  of  federal  action.  Ac- 
cording to  Mr.  Hoar, "  no  Republican  has  dissented 
from  it. " 

The  facts  upon  which  the  force  bill  was  based 
were  so  notorious  and  the  bill  itself  was  so  moderate 
in  its  character  that  the  general  indiflfeienoe  of  the 
public  seemed  to  betray  moral  insensibility  and 
emotional  torpor.  Much  could  be  said  in  favor  of 
the  bill.  This  latest  assertion  of  national  author- 
ity in  federal  elections  involved  no  new  principle. 
In  legalistic  complexion  the  proposed  measure  was 
of  the  same  character  as  previous  legislation  deal- 
ing with  this  subject,  instances  of  which  are  the 
Act  of  1842,  requiring  the  election  of  members 
of  the  House  by  districts,  and  the  Act  of  1866, 
regulating  the  election  of  United  States  Senators. 
Fraudulent  returns  in  congressional  elections  have 


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8  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

always  been  a  notorious  evil,  and  the  partisan  wa; 

in  which  they  are  passed  upon  is  still  a  gross  bleni 

ish  upon  the  constitutional  system  of  the  Unitej 

States,  and  one  which  is  likely  never  to  be  removc( 

until  the  principle  of  judicial  determination  of  elec 

toral  contests  has  been  adopted  in  this  country  as  ii 

has  been  in  England.    The  truth  of  the  matter  ap 

pears  to  be  that  the  public  paid  no  attention  to  tht 

merits  of  the  bill.    It  was  viewed  simply  as  a  con- 

tinuation  of  the  radical  reconstruction  policy,  tht 

practical  results  of  which  had  become  intolerable. 

However  great  the  actual  evils  of  the  situation 

might  be,  public  opinion  held  that  it  would  be 

wiser  to  leave  them  to  be  dealt  with  by  state  au- 

thority  than  by  such  incompetent  statesmanship 

as  had  been  common  in  Washington.    Moreover, 

the  man  in  the  street  resented  the  indifference  of 

politicians  to  all  issues  save  those  derived  from  the 

Civil  War. 

Viscount  Bryce  in  his  American  Commonwealth, 
the  most  complete  and  penetrating  examination  of 
American  political  conditions  written  during  this 
period,  gives  this  account  of  the  party  situation: 

The  great  parties  are  the  Republicans  and  the  Demo- 
crats. What  are  their  principles,  their  disUnctive 
tenets,  their  tendencies?     Which  of  them  is  for  tar:" 


A  TRANSITION  PERIOD 


9 


reform,  for  the  further  extension  of  civil  service  reform, 
for  a  spirited  foreign  policy,  for  the  regulation  of  rail- 
roads and  telegraphs  by  legislation,  for  changes  in  the 
currency,  for  any  other  of  the  twenty  issues  which  one 
hears  discussed  in  this  country  as  seriously  involving  its 
welfare?  This  is  what  a  European  is  always  asking  of 
intelligent  Republicans  and  intelligent  Democrats.  He 
is  always  asking  because  he  never  gets  an  answer.  The 
replies  leave  him  deeper  in  perplexity.  After  some 
months  the  truth  begins  to  dawn  upon  him.  Neither 
party  has,  as  a  party,  anything  definite  to  say  on  these 
issues;  neither  party  has  any  clean-cut  principles,  any 
distinctive  tenets.  Both  have  traditions.  Both  claim 
to  have  tendencies.  Both  certainly  have  war  cries, 
organizations,  interests,  enlisted  in  their  support.  But 
those  interests  are  in  the  main  the  interests  of  getting  or 
keeping  the  patronage  of  the  government.  Tenets  and 
policies,  points  of  political  doctrine  and  points  of  politi- 
cal practice  have  all  but  vanished.  They  have  not  been 
thrown  away,  but  have  been  stripped  away  by  time  and 
the  progress  of  events,  fulfilling  some  policies,  blotting 
out  others.  All  has  been  lost,  except  oflBce  or  the  hope 
of  it. 

That  such  a  situation  could  actually  exist  in  the 
face  of  public  disapproval  is  a  demonstration  of 
the  defects  of  Congress  as  an  organ  of  national 
representation.  Normally,  a  representative  assem- 
bly is  a  school  of  statesmanship  which  is  drawn 
upon  for  filling  the  great  posts  of  administration. 
Not  only  is  this  the  case  under  the  parliamentary 


I'  IJ 


m 


10 


THE  CLEVEIAND  ERA 


system  in  vogue  in  England,  but  it  is  equally  the 
case  in  Switzer'-  nd  whose  constitution  agrees  with 
that  of  the  TJn'lrd  States  in  forbidding  members  of 
Congress  to  nold  executive  office.  But  somehow 
the  American  Congress  fn*''  to  produce  capable 
statesmen.     It   attrac*  .ticiajs  who  display 

affability,  shrewdness,  tiex*crity,  and  eloquence, 
but  who  are  lacking  in  discernment  of  public  needs 
and  in  ability  to  provide  for  them,  so  that  power 
and  opportunity  are  often  associated  with  gross  po- 
litical incompetency. '  The  solutions  of  the  great 
political  problems  of  the  United  States  are  accom- 
plished by  transferring  to  Washington  men  like 
Hayes  and  Cleveland  whose  political  experience 
has  been  gained  in  other  fields. 

The  system  of  congressional  government  was 
subjected  to  some  scrutiny  in  1880-81  through  the 
efforts  of  Senator  George  H.  Pendleton  of  Ohio,  an 
old  statesman  who  had  returned  to  public  life  after 
long  absence.  He  had  been  prominent  in  the 
Democratic  party  before  the  war  and  in  1864  he 

'  Of  this  regrettable  fart  the  whole  history  of  emancipation  is  a 
monument.  The  contrast  between  the  social  consequences  of  emanci- 
pation  in  the  West  Indies,  as  guided  by  British  statesmanship,  under 
conditions  of  meager  industrial  opportunity,  and  the  social  conse- 
quences of  emancipation  in  the  United  States,  affords  an  instructive 
example  of  the  complicated  evils  which  a  nation  may  exfierience 
through  the  sheer  incapacity  of  its  government. 


1 

f 


A  TRANSITION  PERIOD 


11 


was  the  party  candidate  for  Vice-President.  In 
1868  he  was  the  leading  candidate  for  the  presiden- 
tial nomination  on  a  number  of  ballots  but  he  was 
defeated.  In  1869  he  was  a  candidate  for  Gov- 
ernor of  Ohio  but  was  defeated,  and  he  then  retired 
from  public  life  until  1879  when  he  was  elected  to 
the  United  States  Senate.  As  a  member  of  that 
body  he  devoted  himself  to  the  betterment  of 
political  conditions.  His  efforts  in  this  direction 
were  facilitated  not  only  by  his  wide  political  experi- 
ence but  also  by  the  tact  and  urbanity  of  his  man- 
ners, which  had  gained  or  him  in  Ohio  politics  the 
nickname  of  "Gentleman  George." 

In  agreement  with  opinions  long  previously  ex- 
pressed in  Story's  Commentaries,  Senator  Pendleton 
attributed  the  inefficiency  of  national  government 
to  the  sharp  separation  of  Congress  from  the  Admin- 
istration —  a  separation  not  required  by  the  Consti- 
tution but  made  by  Congress  itself  and  subject  to 
change  at  its  discretion.  He  proposed  to  admit  the 
heads  of  executive  departments  to  participation 
in  the  proceedings  of  Congress.  "This  system," 
said  he,  "will  require  the  selection  of  the  strong- 
est men  to  be  heads  of  departments,  and  will  re- 
quire them  to  be  well  equipped  with  the  knowledge 
of  their  oflSces.   It  will  also  require  the  strongest 


I, 


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( 


iil 


1«  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

men  to  be  the  leaders  of  Congress  and  partici- 
pate in  the  debate.  It  will  bring  those  strong  men 
in  contact,  perhaps  into  conflict,  to  advance  the 
public  weal,  and  thus  stimulate  their  abilities  and 
their  efforts,  and  will  thus  assuredly  result  to  the 
good  of  the  country."'  The  report  —  signed  by 
such  party  leaders  as  Allison,  Blaine,  and  Ingalls 
among  the  Republicans,  and  by  Pendleton  and 
Voorhees  among  the  Democrats  —  reviewed  the  his- 
tory of  relations  between  the  executive  and  legis- 
lative branches  and  closed  with  the  expression  of 
the  unanimous  belief  of  the  committee  that  the 
adoption  of  the  measure  "  will  be  the  first  step  to- 
wards a  sound  civil  service  reform,  which  will  se- 
cure a  larger  wisdom  in  the  adoption  of  policies, 
and  a  better  system  in  their  execution. " 

No  action  was  taken  on  this  proposal,  notwith- 
standing the  favor  with  which  it  was  regarded  by 
many  close  students  of  the  political  institutions 
of  the  country.  Public  opinion,  preoccupied  with 
more  specific  issues,  seemed  indifferent  to  a  reform 
that  aimed  simply  at  general  improvement  in  gov- 
ernmental machinery.  The  legislative  calendars 
are  always  so  heaped  with  projects  that  to  reach 

■  Senate  Report,  No.  837,  40tU  Congresa,  3d  Session,  February  4, 
1881. 


A  TRANSITION  PERIOD  IS 

and  act  upon  any  particular  measure  is  impossible 
except  when  there  is  brought  to  bear  such  energetic 
pressure  as  to  produce  special  arrangements  for  the 
purpose,  and  in  this  case  no  such  pressure  was  de- 
veloped. A  companion  measure  for  civil  service 
reform  which  was  proposed  by  Senator  Pendleton 
long  remained  in  a  worse  situation,  for  it  was  not 
merely  left  under  tht  c-ongressional  midden  heap 
but  was  deliberately  buried  by  politicians  who  were 
determined  that  it  should  never  emerge.  That  it 
did  emerge  is  due  to  a  tragedy  which  aroused  publ.c 
opinion  to  an  extent  that  intimidated  Congress. 

^Vant  of  genuine  political  principles  made  fac- 
tional spirit  only  the  more  violent  and  depra\'"d. 
So  long  as  power  and  opportunity  were  based  not 
upon  public  confidence  but  upon  mere  advantage 
of  position,  the  contention  of  party  leaders  turned 
upon  questions  of  appointment  to  office  and  the 
control  of  party  machinery.  The  Republican  na- 
t'onal  convention  of  1880  wa.«  the  scene  of  a  fac- 
tional struggle  which  left  deep  marks  upon  public 
life  and  caused  divisions  lasting  until  the  party 
leaders  of  that  period  were  removed  from  the  scene. 
In  September,  1879,  General  Grant  landed  in  San 
Francisco,  after  a  tour  around  the  world  occupy- 
ing over  two  years,  und  as  he  passed  through  the 


!( 


14  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

ccjntry  he  was  received  with  a  warmth  which 
showed  that  popular  devotion  was  abounding.  A 
movement  in  favor  of  renominating  him  to  the  Pres- 
idency was  started  under  the  direction  of  Senator 
Rwcoe  Conkling  of  New  York.  Grant's  renown 
as  the  greatest  military  leader  of  the  Civil  War  was 
nc*  his  only  asset  in  the  eyes  of  his  supporters.  In 
his  career  as  President  he  had  shown  on  occasion 
independence  and  steadfastness  of  character.  He 
stayed  the  greenback  movement  by  his  veto  after 
eminent  party  leaders  had  yielded  to  it.  He  had 
endeavored  to  introduce  civil  service  reform  and, 
although  his  measures  had  been  frustrated  by  the 
refusal  of  Congress  to  vote  the  necessary  appropri- 
ations, his  tenacity  of  purpose  was  such  that  it 
could  scarcely  be  doubted  that  with  renewed  op- 
portunity he  would  resume  his  efforts.  The  scan- 
dals which  blemished  the  conduct  of  public  affairs 
during  his  administration  could  not  be  attributed 
to  any  lack  of  oersonal  honesty  on  his  part.  Grant 
went  out  of  the  presidential  office  poorer  than  when 
he  entered  it.  Since  then  his  views  had  been 
broadened  by  travel  and  by  observation,  and  it 
was  a  reasonable  supposition  that  he  was  now  bet- 
ter qualified  than  ever  before  for  the  duties  of  the 
presidential  oflBce.    He  was  only  fifty-eight,  an 


A  TRANSITION  PERIOD  15 

age  much  below  thut  at  which  an  active  career 
should  be  expected  to  close,  and  certainly  an 
age  at  which  European  .statesmen  are  conimoniy 
thought  to  |)ossess  unabated  powers.  In  opposi- 
tion to  hini  was  a  tradition  peculiar  to  American 
politics  though  unsup{)orted  by  any  provision  of 
the  Constitution,  according  to  which  no  one  should 
be  elected  President  for  more  than  two  terms.  It 
may  be  questioned  whether  this  tradition  does  not 
owe  its  strength  more  to  the  ambition  of  politicians 
than  tosincere  conviction  on  the  part  of  the  people. ' 
So  strong  was  the  movement  in  favor  of  (ieneral 
Grant  as  President  that  the  united  strength  of  the 
other  candidates  had  difficulty  in  staying  the  boom, 
which,  indeed,  might  have  been  successful  but  for 
the  arrogant  methods  and  tactical  blunders  of  Sen- 
ator Conkling.  When  three  of  the  delegates  voted 
against  a  resolution  binding  all  to  support  the 
nominee  whoever  that  nominee  might  be,  he  offered 


I' 


i 


'  The  reasonip,'^  of  The  Federalist  in  favor  of  continued  ret'li^ibility 
is  oogcnt  in  ilsulf  and  is  Kupparle<l  by  the  experience  of  other  countries, 
for  it  shows  that  custody  of  power  may  remain  in  the  same  hands  for 
long  periods  without  detriment  and  without  occasioning  any  difficulty 
in  terminating  that  custody  when  pubHc  confidence  is  withdrawn. 
American  sensitiveness  on  this  point  would  seem  to  impute  to  the  Con- 
stitution a  frailty  that  gives  it  a  low  rating  among  forms  of  government. 
As  better  means  are  provided  for  enforcing  administrative  responsi- 
bility, the  popular  dislike  of  third  terms  will  doubtless  disappear. 


r " 


I 


iMi 


16  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

a  resolution  that  those  who  had  voted  in  the  nega- 
tive "do  not  deserve  and  have  forfeited  their  votes 
in  this  convention. "  The  feeling  excited  by  this 
condemnatory  motion  was  so  strong  that  Conkling 
was  obliged  to  withdraw  it.  He  also  made  a  con- 
test in  behalf  of  the  unit  rule  but  was  defeated,  as 
the  convention  decided  that  every  delegate  should 
have  the  right  to  have  his  vote  counted  as  he  in- 
dividually desired.  Notwithstanding  these  defeats 
of  the  chief  manager  of  the  movement  in  his  favor, 
Grant  was  the  leading  candidate  with  304  votes  on 
the  first  ballot,  James  G.  Blaine  standing  second 
with  284.  This  was  the  highest  point  in  the  ballot- 
ing, reached  by  Blaine,  while  the  Grant  vote  made 
slight  gains.  Besides  Grant  and  Blaine,  four  other 
candidates  were  in  the  field,  and  the  convention 
drifted  into  a  deadlock  which  under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances would  have  probably  been  dissolved 
by  shifts  of  support  to  Grant.  But  in  the  prelim- 
inary disputes  a  very  favorable  impression  had 
been  made  upon  the  convention  by  General  Gar- 
field, who  was  not  himself  a  candidate  but  was 
supporting  the  candidacy  of  John  Sherman,  who 
stood  third  in  the  poll .  On  the  twenty-eighth  ballot 
two  votes  were  cast  for  Garfield  although  he  pro- 
tested that  he  was  not  a  candidate  and  was  pledged 


A  Tlt^NSITION  PERIOD  17 

to  Sherman.  But  it  became  apparent  that  no 
concentration  could  be  effected  on  any  other  can- 
didate to  prevent  the  nomination  of  Grant,  and 
votes  now  turned  to  Garfield  so  rapidly  that  on  the 
thirty-sixth  ballot  he  received  399,  a  clear  majority 
of  th  whole.  The  pdherents  of  Grant  stuck  to 
h  iii  to  the  c'u',  polling  306  votes  on  the  last  ballot 
E,d  Ciubscqiit'itly  deporting  themselves  as  those 
wl .'  'v^«f  made  a  proud  record  of  constancy. 

The  Democratic  national  convention  nominated 
General  Hancock,  which  was  in  effect  an  appeal  to 
the  memories  and  sentiments  of  the  past,  as  their 
candidate's  public  distinction  rested  upon  his  war 
record.  The  canvass  was  marked  by  listlessness 
and  indifference  on  the  part  of  the  general  public 
and  by  a  fury  of  calumny  on  the  part  of  the  poli- 
ticians directed  against  their  opponents.  Forgery 
was  resorted  to  with  marked  effect  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  where  a  letter  —  the  famous  Morey  letter 
—  in  which  Garfield's  handwriting  was  counter- 
feited, was  circulated  expressing  unpopular  views 
on  the  subject  of  Chinese  immigration.  The  for- 
gery was  issued  in  the  closing  days  of  the  canvass, 
when  there  was  not  time  to  expose  it.  Arrange- 
ments had  been  made  for  a  wide  distribution  of  fac- 
similes which  exerted  a  strong  influence.     Hancock 


J 


\     11 


|c 


i 


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^! 


j  I 

i 


M 


..4 


^ 


18  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

won  five  out  of  the  six  electoral  votes  of  California 
and  came  near  getting  the  three  votes  of  Oregon 
also.  In  the  popular  vote  of  the  whole  country 
Garfield  had  a  plurality  of  less  than  ten  thousand 
in  a  total  vote  of  over  nine  million. 

The  peculiarities  of  the  party  system  which  has 
been  developed  in  American  politics  forces  upon 
the  President  the  occupation  of  employment  agent 
as  one  of  his  principal  engagements.  The  conten- 
tion over  official  patronage,  always  strong  and  ar- 
dent upon  the  accession  of  every  new  President, 
was  aggravated  in  Garfield's  case  by  the  factional 
war  of  which  his  own  nomination  was  a  phase.  The 
factions  of  the  Republican  party  in  New  York  at 
this  period  were  known  as  the  "Stalwarts"  and  the 
"  Half -Breeds, "  the  former  adhering  to  the  leader- 
ship of  Senator  Conkling,  the  latter  to  the  leader- 
ship of  Mr.  Blaine,  whom  President  Garfield  had 
appointed  to  be  his  Secretary  of  State.  Soon  after 
the  inauguration  of  Garfield  it  became  manifest 
that  he  would  favor  the  "  Half-Breeds";  but  under 
the  Constitution  appointments  are  made  by  and 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate  and  both 
the  Senators  from  New  York  were  "Stalwf  ts." 
Although  the  Constitution  contemplates  the  action 
of  the  entire  Senate  as  the  advisory  body  in  matters 


A  TRANSITION  PERIOD  19 

of  appointment,  a  practice  had  been  established 
by  which  the  Senators  from  each  State  were  ac- 
corded the  right  to  dictate  appointments  in  their 
respective  States.  According  to  Senator  Hoar, 
when  he  entered  pubHc  life  in  1869,  "the  Senate 
claimed  almost  the  entire  control  of  the  executive 
function  of  appointment  to  office.  .  .  .  What 
was  called  'the  courtesy  of  the  Senate'  was  de- 
pended upon  to  enable  a  Senator  to  dictate  to  the 
executive  all  appointments  and  removals  in  his 
territory."  This  practice  was  at  its  greatest 
height  when  President  Garfield  challenged  the  sys- 
tem, and  he  let  it  be  understood  that  he  would  in- 
sist upon  his  constitutional  right  to  make  nomina- 
tions at  his  own  discretion.  When  Senator  Conk- 
ling  obtained  from  a  caucus  of  his  Republican 
colleagues  an  expression  of  sympathy  with  his  posi- 
tion, the  President  let  it  be  known  that  he  regarded 
such  action  as  an  affront  and  he  withdrew  all  New 
•k  nominations  except  those  to  which  exception 
'  een  taken  by  the  New  York  Senators,  thus 
confronting  the  Senate  with  the  issue  whether  they 
would  stand  by  the  new  Administration  or  would 
follow  Conkling's  lead. 

On  the  other  hand,  Senator  Conkling  and  his  ad- 
herents declared  the  issue  to  be  simply  whether 


it 


i 

'I 

I 


K   ,    »| 


';:/ 


20  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

competent  public  oflBcials  should  be  removed  to 
make  room  for  factional  favorites.  This  view  of 
the  case  was  adopted  by  Vice-President  Arthur 
and  by  Postmaster-General  James  of  Garfield's 
own  Cabinet,  who,  with  New  York  Senators  Conk- 
ling  and  Piatt,  signed  a  remonstrance  in  which  they 
declared  that  in  their  belief  the  interests  of  the  pub- 
lic service  would  not  be  promoted  by  the  changes 
proposed.  These  changes  were  thus  described  in  a 
letter  of  May  14, 1881 ,  from  the  New  York  Senators 
to  Governor  Cornell  of  New  York: 

Some  weeks  ago  the  President  sent  to  the  Senate  in  a 
group  the  nominations  of  several  persons  for  public 
oflSces  already  filled.  Ore  of  these  offices  is  the  Collec- 
torship  of  the  Port  of  New  York,  now  held  by  General 
Merritt,  another  is  the  crnsul  generalship  at  London, 
now  held  by  Greneral  Badeau,  another  is  Charge  d'Af- 
f aires  to  Denmark,  held  by  Mr.  Cramer;  another  is  the 
mission  to  Switzerland,  held  by  Mr.  Fish,  a  son  of  the 
former  Secretary  of  State.  ...  It  was  proposed  to 
displace  them  all,  not  for  any  alleged  fault  of  theirs,  or 
for  any  alleged  need  or  advantage  of  the  public  service, 
but  in  order  to  give  the  great  offices  of  Collector  of  the 
Port  of  New  York  to  Mr.  William  H.  Robertson  as  a 
"reward"  for  certain  acts  of  his,  said  to  have  aided  in 
making  the  nomination  of  General  Garfield  possible. 
.  .  .  We  have  not  attempted  to  "dictate,"  nor  have 
we  asked  the  nomination  of  one  person  to  any  office  in 
the  State. 


it'   ■  r* 


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J  A  ME8  A,  GAP^IELD 

Photogikph. 


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A  TRANSITION  PERIOD  21 

Except  in  the  case  of  their  remonstrance  against 
the  Robertson  appointment,  they  had  "never  even 
expressed  an  opinion  to  the  President  in  any  case 
unless  questioned  in  regard  to  it."  Along  with 
this  statement  the  New  York  Senators  transmitted 
their  resignations,  saying  "we  hold  it  respectful 
and  becoming  to  make  room  for  those  who  may 
correct  all  the  errors  we  have  made,  and  interpret 
aright  all  the  duties  we  have  misconceived. " 

le  New  York  Legislature  was  then  in  session. 
Co  lingand  Piatt  offered  themselves  ascandiUates 
for  reflection,  and  a  protracted  factional  struggle  en- 
sued, in  the  course  of  which  the  nation  was  shocked 
by  the  news  that  President  Garfield  had  been  as- 
sassinated by  a  disappointed  office  seeker  in  a 
Washington  railway  station  on  July  2, 1881,  The 
President  died  from  the  effects  of  the  wound  on  the 
19th  of  September.  Meanwhile  the  contest  in  the 
New  York  Legislature  continued  until  the  22d  of 
July  when  the  deadlock  was  broken  by  the  election 
of  Warner  Miller  and  Elbridge  G.  Lapham  to  fill 
the  vacancies. 

The  deep  disgust  with  which  the  nation  regarded 
thi  factional  war  and  the  horror  inspired  by  the 
assassination  of  President  Garfield  produced  a  re- 
vulsion of  public  opinion  in  favor  of  civil  service 


^U 


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ii. 


'  .-< 


««  TIIE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

rt'forni  so  energetic'  as  to  overcome  congressional 
antipathy.  Senator  Pendleton's  bill  to  introduce 
the  merit  system,  which  had  l)crn  pending?  for 
nearly  two  years,  was  passed  by  the  Senate  on  De- 
cember 27,  188^^,  and  by  the  House  on  January  4, 
1883.  The  importance  of  the  act  lay  in  its  recog- 
nition of  the  principles  of  the  reform  and  in  its  pro- 
vision of  mean.s  by  which  the  President  could  ap- 
ply those  principles.  A  Civil  Service  Commi.ssion 
was  created,  and  the  President  was  authorized  to 
classify  the  Civil  Service  and  to  provide  selection 
by  competitive  examination  for  all  appointments  to 
the  service  thus  classified.  The  law  was  essentially 
an  enabling  act,  and  its  practical  efficacy  was 
contingent  upon  executive  discretion. 


CHAPTER  II 


J 


POLITICAL  GROPING   AND   i'AHTY   FLUCTUATIQV 

President  Garfield's  career  was  cut  short  so 
soon  after  his  accession  to  office  that  he  had  no  op- 
portunity of  showing  whether  he  had  the  will  and 
the  power  to  obtain  action  for  the  redrens  of  public 
grievances  which  the  congressional  factions  were 
disposed  to  ignore.  His  experience  and  his  attain- 
ments were  such  as  should  have  qualified  him  for 
the  task,  and  in  his  public  life  he  had  shown  firm- 
ness of  character.  His  courageous  opposition  to 
the  greenback  movement  in  Ohio  had  been  of  great 
service  to  the  nation  in  maintaining  the  sta  ard 
of  value.  When  a  party  convention  in  his  district 
passed  resolutions  in  favor  of  paying  interest  on  the 
bonds  with  paper  instead  of  coin,  he  gave  a  rare 
instance  of  political  intrepidity  by  declaring  that 
he  would  not  accept  the  nomination  on  such  a 
platform.  It  was  the  deliberate  opinion  of  Sen- 
ator Hoar,  who  knew  Garfield  intimately,  that 

is 


.■i 


I! 


,i 


.'/ 


^     ti 


t , 


i 


U  Tin:  CLEVT.LWD  ERV 

*'iu«xt  to  th«'  UHMussinution  of  Lincoln,  his  dratli 
wus  the  greutost  national  inisfortune  rver  caused 
to  this  country  by  the  loss  of  a  single  life." 

The  linffcrinK  illness  of  l'resi«U'nl  (Jarfield  raised 
u  serious  question  about  presidential  authority 
which  is  still  unsettled.  For  over  two  months  be- 
fore he  died  he  was  unable  to  attend  to  any  duties 
of  office.  The  Constitution  provides  that  *'  in  case 
of  the  removal  of  the  President  from  office,  or  of 
his  death,  resignation,  or  inability  to  discharge 
the  powers  and  duties  of  the  said  office,  the  same 
shall  devolve  on  the  Vice-President. "  What  is  the 
practical  significance  of  the  term  "inability"?  If 
it  should  be  accepted  in  its  ordinary  meaning,  a 
prostrating  illness  would  be  regarded  as  sufficient 
reason  for  allowing  the  Vice-President  to  assume 
presidential  responsibility.  Though  there  was 
much  quiet  discussion  of  the  problem,  no  attempt 
was  made  to  press  a  decision.  After  (iarfield 
died.  President  Arthur,  on  succeeding  to  the  office, 
took  up  the  matter  in  his  first  annual  message, 
putting  a  number  of  queries  as  to  the  actual  sig- 
nificance of  the  language  of  the  Constitution  — 
queries  which  have  yet  to  be  answered.  The  rights 
and  duties  of  the  Vice-President  in  th  i  par- 
ticular are  dangerously  vague.    The  situation  is 


I'OLmCAL  GROPING  «5 

complicated  by  u  peculiarity  of  the  electoral  sy.n- 
tetn.  In  theory,  by  electing  u  President  the  nation 
expresses  its  will  respeetinr  public  jiolicy;  but  in 
practice  the  candidate  for  President  n>ay  be  an 
exponent  of  one  school  of  opinion  and  the  can- 
didal e  for  Vice-President  may  represent  another 
view.  It  is  impossible  for  a  voter  to  discriminate 
between  the  two;  he  cannot  vote  for  the  candidate 
for  President  without  voting  for  the  candidate  for 
Vice-President,  since  he  does  not  vote  directly  for 
the  candidates  themselves  but  for  the  party  elec- 
tors who  are  pledged  to  the  entire  party  ticket. 
Party  conventions  take  advantage  of  this  disabil- 
ity on  the  i)art  of  the  voter  to  work  an  electioneer- 
ing device  known  as  a  **  straddle, "  the  aim  of  which 
is  to  please  opposite  interests  by  giving  each  a 
place  on  the  ticket.  After  Garfield  was  nomi- 
nated, the  attempt  was  made  to  pla<ate  the  d<>- 
feated  faction  by  nominating  one  of  its  adherents 
for  Vice-President,  and  now  that  nominee  unex- 
pectedly became  the  President  of  the  Tnited  States, 
with  power  to  reverse  the  policy  of  his  predecessor. 
In  one  important  matter  there  was  in  fact  an 
abrupt  reversal  of  policy.  The  independent  coun- 
tries of  North  and  South  America  had  been  invited 
to  participate  in  a  general  congress  to  be  held  in 


V 


!l 


>     i       i 


I 

\ 


26  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

Washington,  November  24,  1882.  James  Gilles- 
pie Blaine,  who  was  then  Secretary  of  State,  had 
applied  himself  with  earnestness  and  vigor  to  this 
undertaking  which  might  have  produced  valuable 
results.  It  was  a  movement  towards  closer  rela- 
tions between  American  countries,  a  purpose  which 
has  since  become  settled  public  policy  and  has  been 
steadily  promoted  by  the  Government.  With  the 
inauguration  of  President  Arthur,  Blaine  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Frederick  T.  Frelinghuysen  of  New  Jer- 
sey, who  practically  canceled  the  invitation  to  the 
proposed  Congress  some  six  weeks  after  it  had  been 
issued.  On  February  3,  1882,  Blaine  protested  in 
an  open  letter  to  the  President,  and  the  aflFair  occa- 
sioned sharp  discussion.  In  his  regular  message  to 
Congress  in  the  following  December  the  President 
offered  excuses  of  an  evasive  character,  pointing 
out  that  Congress  had  made  no  appropriation  for 
expenses  and  declaring  that  he  had  thought  it 
"  fitting  that  the  Executive  should  consult  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  people  before  pursuing  a  line 
of  policy  somewhat  novel  in  its  character  and 
far-reaching  in  its  possible  consequences. " 

In  general.  President  Arthur  behaved  with  a  tact 
and  prudence  that  improved  his  position  in  public 
esteem.    It  soon  became  manifest  that,  although 


I 

4 


POLITICAL  GROPING  27 

he  had  been  Conkling's  adherent,  he  was  not  his 
servitor.  He  conducted  the  routine  business  of  the 
presidential  office  with  dignity,  and  he  displayed 
independence  of  character  in  his  relations  with 
Congress.  But  his  powers  were  so  limited  by  the 
conditions  under  which  he  had  to  act  that  to  a  large 
extent  public  interests  had  to  drift  along  without 
direction  and  management.  In  some  degree  the 
situ  ^n  resembled  that  which  existed  in  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire,  when  a  complicated  legalism  kept 
grinding  away  and  pretentious  forms  of  authority 
were  maintained  although  meanwhile  there  was 
actual  administrative  impotence.  Striking  evi- 
dence of  the  existence  of  such  a  situation  is  found 
in  President  Arthur's  messages  to  Congress. 

In  his  message  of  December  6,  1881,  the  Presi- 
dent mentioned  the  fact  that  in  the  West  "  a  band 
of  armed  desperadoes  known  as  '  Cowboys, '  prob- 
ably numbering  fifty  to  one  hundred  men,  have 
been  engaged  for  months  in  committing  acts  of 
lawlessness  and  brutality  which  the  local  authori- 
ties have  been  unable  to  repress."  He  observed 
that  "with  every  disposition  to  meet  the  exigencies 
of  the  case,  I  am  embarrassed  by  lack  of  authority 
to  deal  with  them  effectually. "  The  center  of  dis- 
turbance was  in  Arizona,  and  the  punishment  of 


\f 


\u  i 


i 


\A 


«8  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

crime  there  was  ordinarily  the  business  of  the  local 
authorities.    But  even  if  they  called  for  aid,  said 
the  President,  "this  Government  would  be  power- 
less to  render  assistance,"  for  the  laws  had  been 
altered  by  Congress  so  that  States  but  not  Terri- 
tories could  demand  the  protection  of  the  national 
Government  against   "domestic  violence."    He 
recommended  legislation  extending  to  the  Territo- 
ries "the  protection  which  is  accorded  the  States 
by  the  Constitution. "  On  April  26, 1882,  the  Presi- 
dent sent  a  special  message  to  Congress  on  condi- 
tions in  Arizona,  announcing  that  "robbery,  mur- 
der, and  resistance  to  laws  have  become  so  common 
as  to  cease  causing  surprise,  and  that  the  people  are 
greatly  intimidated  and  losing  confidence  in  the 
protection  of  the  lav  "    He  also  advised  Congress 
that  the  "  Cowboys '      ^re  making  raids  into  Mex- 
ico, and  again  beg^  u    or  legal  authority  to  act. 
On  the  3d  of  May,  hv       .ed  a  proclamation  calling 
upon  the  outlaws  "to  disperse  and  retire  peaceably 
to  their  respective  abodes."     In  his  regular  an- 
nual message  on  December  4, 1882,  he  again  called 
attention  "to  the  prevalent  lawlessness  upon  the 
borders,  and  to  the  necessity  of  legislation  for 
its  suppression." 
Such  vast  agitation  from  the  operations  of  a 


POLITICAL  GROPING  99 

band  of  ruflBans,  estimated  at  from  fifty  to  one 
hundred  in  number  and  such  floundering  incapac- 
ity for  prompt  action  by  public  authority  seem 
more  like  events  from  a  chronicle  of  the  Middle 
Ages  than  from  the  public  records  of  a  modern 
nation.     Of  like  tenor  v/as  a  famous  career  which 
came  to  an  end  in  this  period.    Jesse  W.  James, 
the  son  of  a  Baptist  minister  in  Clay  County,  Mis- 
souri, for  some  years  carried  on  a  bandit  business, 
specializing  in  the  robbery  of  banks  and  railroad 
trains,  with  takings  computed  at  $263,778.    As  his 
friends  and  admirers  were  numerous,  the  elective 
sheriffs,  prosecuting  attorneys,  and  judges  in  the 
area  of  his  activities  were  unable  to  stop  him  by 
any  means  within  their  reach.    Meanwhile  the 
frightened  burghers  of  the  sm-^ll  towns  in  his  range 
of  operations  were  clamoring  for  deliverance  from 
his  raids,  and  finally  Governor  Crittenden  of  Mis- 
souri offered  a  reward  of  $10,000  for  his  capture 
dead  or  alive.     Two  members  of  his  own  band  shot 
him  down  in  his  own  house,  April  3,  1882.     They 
at  once  reported  the  deed  and  surrendered  them- 
selves to  the  police,  were  soon  put  on  trial,  pleaded 
guilty  of  murder,  were  sentenced  to  death,  and 
were  at  once  pardoned  by  the  Governor.    Mean- 
while the  funeral  ceremonies  over  Jesse  James's 


■4' 

'it 


^i 


'  f 
f 


('  / 


,  »i 


80  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

remains  drew  a  great  concourse  of  people,  and 
there  were  many  indications  of  popular  sympathy. 
Stories  of  his  exploits  have  had  an  extensive  sale, 
and  h's  name  has  become  a  center  of  legend  and 
ballad  somewhat  after  the  fashion  of  the  medieval 
hero  Robin  Hood. 

The  legislative  blundering  which  tied  the  Presi- 
dent's hands  and  made  the  Government  impotent 
to  protect  American  citizens  from  desperadoes  of 
the  type  of  the  "cowboys"  and  Jesse  James  is 
characteristic  of  Congress  during  this  period.  An- 
other example  of  congressional  muddling  is  found 
in  an  act  which  was  passed  for  the  better  protec- 
tion of  ocean  travel  and  which  the  President  felt 
constrained  to  veto.  In  his  veto  message  of  July 
1,  1882,  the  President  said  that  he  was  entirely  in 
accord  with  the  purpose  of  the  bill  which  related  to 
matters  urgently  demanding  legislative  attention. 
But  the  bill  was  so  drawn  that  in  practice  it  would 
have  caused  great  confusion  in  the  clearing  of 
vessels  and  would  have  led  to  an  impossible  situa- 
tion. It  was  not  the  intention  of  the  bill  to  do 
what  the  President  found  its  langu?  -°  to  require, 
and  the  defects  were  due  simply  ,  'adroit 
phrasing,  which  frequently  occurs  in  congressional 
enactments,  thereby  giving  support  to  the  theory 


POLITICAL  GROPING  SI 

of  John  Stuart  Mill  that  a  representative  assembly 
is  by  its  very  nature  unfit  to  prepare  legislative 
measures. 

The  clumsj  machinery  of  legislation  kept  bun- 
gling on,  irresponsive  to  the  principal  needs  and 
interests  of  the  times.  An  ineffectual  start  was 
made  on  two  subjects  presenting  simple  issues  on 
which  there  was  an  energetic  pressure  of  popular 
sentiment  —  Chinese  immigration  and  polygamy 
among  the  Mormons.  Anti-Chinese  legislation  had 
to  contend  with  a  traditional  sentiment  in  favor 
of  maintaining  the  United  States  as  an  asylum 
for  all  peoples.  But  the  demand  from  the  workers 
of  the  Pacific  slope  for  protection  against  Asiatic 
competition  in  the  home  labor  market  was  so 
f  erce  and  so  determined  that  Congress  yielded. 
President  Arthur  vetoed  a  bill  prohibiting  Chinese 
immigration  as  "a  breach  of  our  national  faith," 
but  he  admitted  the  need  of  legislation  on  the  sub- 
ject and  finally  approved  a  bill  suspending  immi- 
gration from  China  for  a  term  of  years.  This  was 
a  beginning  of  legislation  which  eventually  arrived 
at  a  policy  of  complete  exclusion.  The  Mormon 
question  was  dealt  with  by  the  Act  of  March  22, 
1882,  imposing  penalties  upon  the  practice  of  po- 
lygamy and  placing  the  conduct  of  elections  in 


'i\ 


4'. 


\', 


I 


ll 


a 


Miiiiti 


^    1  t 


I 


82  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

the  Territory  of  Utah  under  the  supervision  of  a 
board  of  five  persons  appointed  by  the  President. 
Though  there  were  many  prosecutions  under  this 
act,  it  proved  so  ineffectual  in  suppressing  po- 
lygamy that  it  was  eventually  supplemented  by 
giving  the  Government  power  to  seize  and  admin- 
ister the  property  of  the  Mormon  Church.  This 
action,  resulting  from  the  Act  of  March  3,  1887, 
created  a  momentous  precedent.  The  escheated 
property  was  held  by  the  Government  until  1896 
and  meanwhile  the  Mormon  Church  submitted  to 
the  law  and  made  a  formal  declaration  that  it  had 
abandoned  polygamy. 

Another  instance  in  which  a  lack  of  agreement 
between  the  executive  and  the  legislative  branches 
of  the  Government  manifested  itself  arose  out  of 
a  scheme  which  President  Arthur  recommended  to 
Congress  for  the  improvement  of  the  waterways  of 
the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries.  The  response 
of  Congress  was  a  bill  in  which  there  was  an  ap- 
propriation of  about  $4,000,000  for  the  general  im- 
provements recommended,  but  about  $14,000,000 
were  added  for  other  special  river  and  harbor 
schemes  which  had  obtained  congressional  fa- 
vor. President  Arthur's  veto  message  of  August 
1,  1882,  condemned  the  bil   because  it  contained 


ii  r  ^ 


m 


!    = 


POLITICAL  GROPING  33 

provisions  designed  "entirely  for  the  benefit  of  the 
particular  localities  in  which  it  is  proposed  to  make 
the  improvements. "    He  thus  described  a  type  of 
legislation  of  which  the  nation  had  and  is  still 
having  bitter  experience:    "As  the  citizens  of  one 
State  find  that  money,  to  raise  which  they  in  com- 
mon with  the  whole  country  are  taxed,  is  to  be  ex- 
pended for  local  improvements  in  another  State, 
they  demand  similar  benefits  for  themselves,  and 
it  is  not  unnatural  that  they  should  seek  to  indem- 
nify themselves  for  such  use  of  the  public  funds  by 
securing  appropriations  for  similar  improvements 
in  their  own  neighborhood.    Thus  as  the  bill  be- 
comes more  objectionable  it  secures  more  support." 
The  truth  of  this  last  assertion  Congress  imme- 
diately proved  by  passing  the  bill  over  the  Presi- 
dent's veto.    Senator  Hoar,  who  defended  the  bill, 
has  admitted  that  "a  large  number  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  House  who  voted  for  it  lost  their 
seats"  and  that  in  his  opinion  the  affair  "cost 
the  Republican  party  its  majority  in  the  House 
of  Representatives. " 

Legislation  regarding  the  tariff  was,  however, 
the  event  of  Arthur's  administration  which  had 
the  deepest  e.'ect  upon  the  poHtical  situation. 
Both  national  parties  were  reluctant  to  face  the 


.  ■   '  # 


;'i 


*■ 


:| 


,/ 


h  ' 


{  n 


«4  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

issue,  but  the  pressure  of  conditions  became  too 
strong  for  ♦hem.    Revenue  arrangements  originally 
planned  for  war  needs  were  still  amassing  funds  in 
the  Treasury  vaults  which  were  now  far  beyond 
the  needs  of  the  Government  and  were  at  the  same 
time  deranging  commerce  and  industry.    In  times 
of  war  the  Treasury  served  as  a  financial  conduit; 
peace  had  now  made  it  a  catch  basin  whose  excess 
accumulations  embarrassed  the  Treasury  and  at 
the  same  time  caused  the  business  world  to  suffer 
from  a  scarcity  of  currency.    In  his  annual  mes- 
sage on  December  6,  1881,  President  Arthur  cau- 
tiously observed  that  it  seemed  to  him  "that  the 
time  has  arrived  when  the  people  may  justly  (\e- 
mand  some  relief  from  the  present  onerous  burder . " 
In  his  message  of  December  4,  1882,  he  was  much 
more  emphatic.     Calling  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  annual  surplus  had  increased  to  more  than 
$145,000,000,  he  observed  that  "either  the  surplus 
must  lie  idle  in  the  Treasury  or  the  Government 
will  be  forced  to  buy  at  market  rates  its  bonds  not 
then  redeemable,  and  which  under  such  circum- 
stances cannot  fail  to  command  an  enormous  pre- 
mium, or  the  swollen  revenues  will  be  devoted  to 
extravagant  expenditures,  which,  as  experience  has 
taught,  is  ever  the  bane  of  an  overflowing  treasury." 


POLITICAL  GROPL\G  35 

The  congressional  agents  of  the  protected  in- 
dustries were  confronted  by  an  exacting  situation. 
The  country  was  at  peace  but  it  was  still  burdened 
by  war  taxes  although  the  Government  did  not 
need  the  accumulating  revenue  and  was  actually 
embarrassed  by  its  excess.     The  President  had  al- 
ready made  himself  the  spokesman  of  the  popular 
demand  for  a  substantial  reduction  of  taxes.    Such 
a  combination  of  forces  in  favor  of  lightening  the 
popular  burden  might  seem  to  be  constitutionally 
irresistible,  but  by  adroit  maneuvering  the  con- 
gressional supporters  of  protection   managed  to 
have  the  war  rates  generally  maintained  and  in 
some  cases  even  increased.     The  case  is  a  typical 
example  of  the  way  in  which  advantage  of  strategic 
position  in  a  governmental  system  can  prevail 
against  mere  numbers. 

By  the  Act  of  May  15,  1882,  a  tariff  commission 
was  created  to  examine  the  industrial  situation  and 
make  recommendations  as  to  rates  of  duty.  The 
President  appointed  men  who  stood  high  in  the 
commercial  world  and  who  were  strongly  attached 
to  the  protective  system.  They  applied  them- 
selves to  their  task  with  such  energy  that  by  De- 
cember 4,  1882,  they  had  produced  a  voluminous 
report  with  suggested  amendments  to  customs  laws. 


I 

,i 


«  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

But  the  advocates  of  high  protection  in  the  Houae 
were  not  satisfied;  they  opposed  the  recommenda- 
tions  of  the  report  and  urged  that  the  best  and 
quickest  way  to  reduce  taxation  vas  by  abolishing 
or  rt^ducing  items  on  the  internal  revenue  list.    This 
policy  not  only  commanded  support  on  the  Repub- 
lican side  but  also  received  the  aid  of  a  Democratic 
faction  which  avowed  protectionist  principles  and 
claimed  party  sanction  for  them.    These  political 
elements  in  the  House  were  strong  enough  to  pre- 
vent action  on  the  customs  tariff  but  a  bill  was 
passed  reducing  some  of  the  internal  revenue  taxes. 
This  action  seemed  likely  to  prevent  tariff  revision 
at  least  during  that  session.    Formidable  obstacles, 
both  constitutional  and  pariiamentary.  stood  in 
the  way  of  action,  but  they  were  surmounted  by 
ingenious  management. 

The  Constitution  provides  that  all  revenue  bills 
shall  originate  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  but 
the  Senate  has  the  right  to  propose  amendments. 
Under  cover  of  this  clause  the  Senate  originated  a 
voluminous  tariff  bill  a  tacked  it  to  the  House 
bill  as  an  araendmenV  When  the  bill,  as  thus 
amended,  came  back  to  the  House,  a  two-thirds 
vote  would  have  been  required  by  the  existing  rules 
to  take  it  up  for  consideration,  but  this  obstacle 


POLITICAL  GROPING  37 

WM  overcome  hy  udop*ing  a  new  rule  by  which  u 
bare  majority  of  the  House  could  forthwith  take  up 
a  bill  amen(h'(l  by  the  Senate,  for  the  purpose  of 
non-concurrence  but  not  for  concurrence.  The 
object  of  this  maneuver  was  to  get  the  bill  inti»  a 
committee  of  conference  where  thi-  details  could  l)e 
arranged  by  private  negotiation.  The  rule  was 
adopted  on  February  ^^6,  1883,  but  the  committee 
of  conference  was  not  finally  constituted  until  the 
1st  of  March,  within  two  days  of  the  close  of  the 
session.  On  the  3d  of  March,  when  this  commit- 
tee reported  a  measure  on  which  they  had  agreed, 
both  Houses  adopted  this  report  and  enacted  the 
measure  without  further  ado. 

In  .some  ca.ses  rates  were  fixed  by  the  commit- 
tee above  the  figures  voted  in  either  House,  and 
even  when  there  was  no  disagreement  changes  were 
made.  The  taritf  commission  had  recommended, 
for  example,  a  duty  of  fifty  cents  a  ton  on  iron  ore, 
and  both  the  Senate  and  the  House  voted  to  put 
the  duty  at  that  figure;  but  the  conference  com- 
mittee fixed  the  rate  at  seventy-five  cents.  When 
a  conference  committee  report  comes  before  the 
House  it  is  adopted  or  rejected  in  toio,  as  it  is  not 
divisible  or  amendable.  In  theory,  the  revision  of 
a  report  is  feasible  by  sending  it  back  to  conference 


A 


>/ 
•I 

'i\ 

I 


¥ 


k 


«  THE  CLFA-ELAND  ER.V 

under  instructions  voted  hy  the  House.  »>ut  such 
a  F»roccdure  is  not  really  available  in  the  closing 
hours  of  a  .session,  and  tl...  only  practical  course  of 
action  is  either  to  pass  the  bill  us  shaped  by  the 
eonferees  or  else  to  accept  the  responsibility  for 
inaction.     Thus  pressed  for  time.  Congress  passed 
a  bill  containing  features  obnoxious  to  a  majority 
in  both  Houses  and  offensive  to  public  opinion. 
Senator  Sherman  in  his  Rccollirtims  expressed  re- 
gret If.at  he  had  voltd  i or  the  biM  and  declared 
that    I.    '  tlu-  recommendations  of  the  tariff  com- 
u  oeen  adopted,  '"the  tariff  would  have  been 
-'  ilcd  for  many  years, "  but '  many  persons  wish- 
h'l    ()  advance  their  particular  industries  appeared 
before  the  committee  and  succeeded  in  having  their 
views  adopted."    1„  his  annual  message  Decern- 
ber  4,  188.%  President  Arthur  accepted  the  act  as 
a  response  to  the  demand  for  a  reduction  of  taxa- 
tion  which  was  sufficiently  tolerable  to  make  fur- 
ther effort  inexpedient  until  its  effects  could  be 
definitely  ascertained;  but  he  remarked  that  he  had 
'no  doubt  that  still  further  reductions  may  be 
wisely  made. " 

In  general,  President  Arthur's  administration 
may  therefore  be  accurately  described  as  a  period 
of  political  groping  and   party  fluctuation.    In 


k  I  f  ^ 


I-OLITKAL  (JROPING  so 

neitlwr  of  the  grvui  nationul  parties  was  there  a 
sincere  and  <iefinit«>  attituch'  on  the  new  is.Mjes 
which  were  clamorous  f«.r  attention.  an«H he  |)iil)li,. 
discontent  was  reflected  in  abrupt  <hanKes  of  ,«>- 
htkal  supiwrt.     There  was  a  general  feeling  of  dis- 
trust regurdinK  the  character  and  rapacity  of  the 
I)ohticittns  at  VVa.shiiiffton.  and  chit  ion  result,  were 
apparently  dictated  more  l»y  fear  than  hy  hope. 
One  party  would  be  rais«'d  up  and  the  other  parly 
cast  down,  not  because  the  one  was  tru.ste<l  more 
than  the  other,  but  because  it  was  for  a  while  less 
odious.     Thus  a  party  succe  ..  flight  well  be  a  pre- 
lude to  a  party  disaster  becau. «  neither  party  knew 
how  to  improve  its  political  opportunity.     The 
record  of  party  fluet  nation  in  Congress  during  this 
period  is  almost  unparalleie<]  in  sharpness.' 

In  state  politics  the  polling  showed  that  both 
parties  were  disgusted  with  their  leadership  and 

'  In  1875,  at  the  opening  (if  the  Forty-fourth  (  ongrcNs  the  House 
stood  110  Republicans  and  ISi  DeDiocrat  v  In  18H1  the  House  sUhhI 
150  Republicans  to  131  Democrats,  with  li  Independent  mcnjl^rs. 
In  1884  the  Republican  list  had  decline  d  t..  Ua  and  the  Democratic 
had  grown  to  iOl.  and  there  were  five  Inde^iulents.  The  Senate, 
although  only  a  third  of  its  membership  is  re&ewcd  every  t*..  years." 
displayed  extraordinary  changes  during  thi.s  ,H;ri.«l.  lb-  JJcpuU 
lican  membership  of  46  in  1870  had  declined  to  33  ,y  18M  .  an.l  the 
Democratic  membership  had  increased  to  it  In  18«i  the  .Senate 
was  evenly  balanced  in  party  strength,  ea.  h  party  havi.,^  37  a^  .med 
adherents,  but  there  were  two  Independents. 


i 


^Ak 


!  ^  ''  H 


40  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

that  there  was  a  public  indifference  to  issues,  which 
kept  people  away  from  the  polls.    A  comparison  of 
the  total  vote  cast  in  state  elections  in  1882  with 
that  cast  in  the  presidential  election  of  1880  showed 
a  decline  of  over  eight  hundred  thousand  in  the  Re- 
publican vote  and  of  nearly  four  hundred  thousand 
in  the  Democratic  vote.     The  most  violent  of  the 
party  changes  that  took  place  during  this  period 
occurred  in  the  election  of  1882  in  New  York 
State  when  the  Republican  vote  showed  a  decline 
of  over  two  hundred  thousand  and  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  Governor  was  elected  by  a 
plurality  of  nearly  that  amount.    It   was  this 
election  which  brought   Grover   Cleveland  into 
national  prominence. 


CHAPTER  III 


11' 


if 


,f 


THE  ADVENT  OF  CLEVELAND 

Popular  dissatisfaction  with  the  behavior  of  pub- 
h'c  authority  had  not  up  to  this  time  extended  to 
the  formal  Constitution.    Schemes  of  radical  rear- 
rangement of  the  political  institutions  of  the  coun- 
try had  not  yet  been  agitated.    New  party  move- 
ments were  devoted  to  particular  measures  such  as 
fresh  greenback  issues  or  the  prohibition  of  liquor 
traffic.    Popular  reverence  for  the  Constitution 
was  deep  and  strong,  and  it  was  the  habit  of  the 
American  peuple  to  impute  practical  defects  not  to 
the  governmental  system  itself  but '  o  the  character 
of  those  acting  in  it.    Burke  as  long  ago  as  1770  re- 
marked truly  that  "where  there  is  a  regular  scheme 
of  operations  carried  on,  it  is  the  system  and  not 
any  individual  person  who  acts  in  it  that  is  truly 
dangerous. "    But  it  is  an  inveterate  habit  of  pub- 
lic opinion  to  mistake  results  for  causes  and  to  vent 
its  resentment  upon  persons  when  misgovernment 

41 


'I 


/    ■ 


.  \ 


'       '  ;i 


.j'^ 


li 


«  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

occurs.    That  disposition  was  bitterly  intense  at 
this  period.     "Turn  the  rascals  out"  was  the  or- 
dinary campaign  slogan  of  an  opposition  party, 
and  calumny  formed  the  staple  of  its  argument. 
Of  course  no  party  could  establish  exclusive  pro- 
prietorship to  such  tactics,  and  whichever  party 
might  be   in  power  in  a  particular  locality  was 
cast  for  the  villain's  part  in  the  political  drama. 
But  as  changes  of  party  control  took  place,  ex- 
perience taught  that  the  only  practical  result  was 
to  introduce  new  players  into  the  same  old  game. 
Such  experience  spread  among  the  people  a  de- 
spairing feeling  that  American  politics  were  hope- 
lessly depraved,  and  at  the  same  time  it  gave 
them  a  deep  yearning  for  some  strong  deliverer.  To 
this  messianic  hope  of  politics  may  be  ascribed 
what  is  in  some  respects  the  most  remarkable 
career  in  the  political  history  of  the  United  States. 
The  rapid  and  fortuitous  rise  of  Grover  Cleveland 
to  political  eminence  is  without  a  parallel  in  the 
records  of  American  statesmanship,  notwithstand- 
ing many  instances  of  public  distinction  attained 
from  humble  beginnings. 

The  antecedents  of  Cleveland  were  Americans 
of  the  best  type.  He  was  descended  from  a  colo- 
nial stock  which  had  settled  in  the  Connecticut 


THE  ADVENT  OF  CLEVELAND  43 

Valley.     His  earliest  ancestor  of  whom  there  is  any 
exact  knowledge  was  Aaron  Cleveland,  an  Epis- 
copal clergyman,  who  died  at  East  Haddam,  Con- 
necticut, in  1757,  after  founding  a  family  which  in 
every  generation  furnished  recruits  to  the  ministry. 
It  argues  a  hereditary  disposition  for  independent 
judgment  that  among  these  there  was  a  marked 
variation  in  denominational  choice.    Aaron  Cleve- 
land was  so  strong  in  his  attachment  to  the  Angli- 
can church  that  to  be  ordained  he  went  to  England 
—  under  the  conditions  of  travel  in  those  days  a 
hard,  serious  undertaking.     His  son,  also  named 
Aaron,  became  a  Congregational  minister.     Two  of 
the  sons  of  the  younger  Aaron  became  ministers, 
one  of  them  an  Episcopalian  like  his  grandfather. 
Another  son,  William,  who  became  a  prosperous 
silversmith,  was  for  many  years  a  deacon  in  the 
church  in   which   his  father  preached.     William 
.sent  his  second  son,  Richard,  to  Yale,  where  he 
graduated  with  honors  at  the  age  of  nineteen.     He 
turned  to  the  Presbyterian  church,  studied  the- 
ology at  Princeton,  and  upon  receiving  ordination 
began  a  ministerial  career  which  like  that  of  many 
preachers  was  carried  on  in  many  pastorates.     He 
was  settled  at  Caldwell,  New  Jersey,  in  his  third 
pastorate,  aud  there  Stephen  Grover  Cleveland  was 


iii| 


fc 


,1 


\' 


,  I 


:^   /   f 


V 


i    . 


Hi 


44  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

born,  on  March  18,  1837.  the  fifth  in  a  family 
of  children  that  eventually  increased  to  nine.  He 
was  named  after  the  Presbyterian  minister  wlio 
was  his  father's  predecessor.  The  first  name  soon 
dropped  out  of  use,  and  from  childhood  he  went  by 
his  middle  name,  a  practice  of  which  the  Clevelands 
supply  so  many  instances  that  it  seems  to  be  quite 
a  family  trait. 

In  campaign  literature  so  much  has  been  made 
of  the  humble  circumstances  in  which  Grover  made 
his  start  in  life,  that  the  unwary  reader  might  easily 
imagine  that  the  future  President  was  almost  a 
waif.    Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth. 
He  really  belonged  to  the  most  authentic  aristoc- 
racy that  any  state  of  society  can  produce  —  that 
which  maintains  its  standards  and  principles  from 
generation  to  generation  by  the  integrity  of  the 
stock  without  any  endowment  of  wealth.    The 
Clevelands  were  people  who  reared  large  families 
and  sustained  themselves  with  dignity  and  credit 
on  narrow  means.    It  was  a  settled  tradition  with 
such  republican  aristocrai^s  that  a  son  destined 
for  a  learned  profession  —  usually  the  ministry  — 
should  be  sent  to  college,  and  for  that  purpose 
heroic  economies  were  practiced  in  the  family. 
The  opportunities  which  wealth  can  confer  are 


THE  ADVENT  OF  CLEVELAND  45 

really  trivial  in  comparison  with  the  advantage  of 
being  born  and  reared  in  such  bracing  conditions 
as  those  which  surrounded  Grover  Cleveland.     As 
a  boy  he  was  a  clerk  in  a  country  store,  but  his  edu- 
cation was  not  neglected  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen 
he  was  studying  with  a  view  to  entering  college. 
His  father's  death  ended  that  prospect  and  forced 
him  to  go  to  work  again  to  help  support  the  family. 
Some  two  years  later,  when  the  family  circum- 
stances were  sufficiently  eased  so  that  he  could 
strike  out  for  himself,  he  set  off  westward,  intend- 
ing to  reach  Cleveland.    Arriving  at  Buffalo,  he 
called  upon  a  married  aunt  who,  on  learning  that 
he  was  planning  to  get  work  at  Cleveland  with  the 
idea  of  becoming  a  lawyer,  advised  him  to  stay  in 
Buffalo  where  opportunities  were  better.     Young 
Cleveland  was  taken  into  her  home  virtually  as 
private  secretary  to  her  husband,  Lewis  F.  Allen, 
a  man  of  means,  culture,  and  public  spirit.    Allen 
occupied  a  large  house  with  spacious  grounds  in  a 
suburb  of  the  city,  and  owned  a  farm  on  which  he 
bred  fine  cattle.     He  issued  the  American  ShoH- 
Horn  Herd  Book,  a  standard  authority  for  pedigree 
stock,  and  the  fifth  edition,  published  in  1861,  madf 
a  public  acknowledgment  of  "  the  kindness,  indi    - 
try,  and  ability  "  with  which  Grover  Cleveland  had 


111 


(i< 


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f 


1 


-r, 


1 1  i  I 

if  I  >  I 

r  ! 


11' f 


,1 


<•  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

assisted  the  editor  "  in  correcting  and  arranging  the 
pedigrees  for  publication. " 

With  his  uncle's  friendship  to  back  him,  Cleve- 
land  had  of  course  no  difficulty  in  getting  into  a 
reputable  law  office  as  a  student,  and  thereafter  his 
affairs  moved  steadily  along  the  road  by  which  in- 
numerable  young  Americans  of  diligence  and  indus- 
try  have  advanced  to  success  in  the  legal  profession. 
Cleveland's  career  as  a  lawyer  was  marked  by  those 
steady,  solid  gains  in  reputation  which  result  from 
care  and  thoroughness  rather  than  from  brilliancy, 
and  in  these  respects  it  finds  many  parallels  among 
lawyers  of  the  trustee  type.     What  is  exceptional 
and  peculiar  in  Cleveland's  career  is  the  way  in 
which  political  situations  formed  about  him  with- 
out  any  contrivance  on  his  part,  and  a^  it  were 
projected  him  from  office  to  office  until  he  arrived 
m  the  White  House. 

At  the  outset  nothing  could  have  seemed  more 
unlikely  than  such  a  career.  Cleveland's  ambi- 
tions  were  bound  up  in  his  profession  and  his  poli- 
tics  were  opposed  to  those  of  the  powers  holding 
local  control.  But  the  one  circumstance  did  not 
shut  him  out  of  political  vocation  and  the  other 
becrme  a  positive  advantage.  He  entered  public 
life  in  1863  through  an  unsought  appointment  as 


THE  ADVENT  OF  CLEVELAND  47 

assistant  district  attorney  for  Erie  County.    The 
incumbent  of  the  office  was  in  poor  health  and 
needed  an  assistant  on  whom  he  could  rely  to  do 
the  work.   Hence  Cleveland  was  called  into  service. 
His  actual  occupancy  of  the  position  prompted  his 
party  to  nominate  him  to  the  office;  and  although 
he  was  defeated,  he  received  a  vote  so  much  above 
the  normal  voting  strength  of  his  party  that,  in 
1869,  he  was  picked  for  the  nomination  to  the  office 
of  sheriflF  to  strengthen  a  party  ticket  made  up  in 
the  interest  of  a  congressional  candidate.     The 
expectation  was  that  while  the  district  might  be 
carried  for  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Congress, 
Cleveland  would  probably  fail  of  election.     The 
nomination  was  virtually  forced  upon  him  against 
his  wishes.    But  he  was  elected  by  a  small  plural- 
ity.    This  success,  reenforced  by  his  able  conduct 
of  the  office,  singled  him  out  as  the  party  hope  for 
success  in  the  Buffalo  municipal  election;  and  after 
his  term  as  sheriff  he  was  nominated  for  mayor, 
again  without  any  effort  on  his  part.     Although 
ordinarily  the  Democratic  party  was  in  a  hopeless 
minority,  Cleveland  was  elected.     It  was  in  this 
campaign  that  he  enunciated  the  principle  that 
public  office  is  a  public  trust,  which  was  his  rule  of 
action  throughout  his  career.    Both  as  sheriff  and 


I 


1 


'It 


hi 


'-  I 


'I  J  ' 


*8  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

as  mayor  he  acted  upon  it  with  a  vigor  that  brought 
him  into  colhsion  with  predatory  politicians,  and 
the  energy  and  address  with  which  he  defended 
pubhc  interests  made  him  widely  known  as  the  re- 
form mayor  of  Buffalo.    His  record  and  reputation 
naturally  attracted  the  attention  of  the  state  man- 
agers of  the  Democratic  party,  who  were  casting 
about  for  a  candidate  strong  enough  to  overthrow 
theestabhshed  Republican  control,  and  Cleveland 
was  just  as  distinctly  drafted  for  the  nomination 
to  the  governorship  in  1882  as  he  had  been  for  his 
previous  offices. 

In  his  career  as  governor  Cleveland  displayed 
the  same  stanch  characteristics  as  before,  and  he 
was  fearless  and  aggressive  in  maintaining  his  prin- 
ciples.   The  most  striking  characteristic  of  his  veto 
messages  is  the  utter  absence  of  partisan  or  person- 
al designs.     Some  of  the  bills  he  vetoed  purported 
to  benefit  labor  interests,  and  politicians  are  usu- 
ally fearful  of  any  appearance  of  opposition  to  such 
interests.     His  veto  of  the  bill  establishing  a  five 
cent  fare  for  the  New  York  elevated  railways  was 
an  action  of  a  kind  to  make  him  a  target  for  cal- 
umny and  misrepresentation.    Examination  of  the 
record  reveals  no  instance  in  which  Cleveland 
flinched  from  doing  his  duty  or  faltered  in  the  full 


THE  ADVENT  OP  CLEVELAND  49 

performance  of  it.    He  acted  throughout  in  his 
avowed  capacity  of  a  public  trustee,  and  he  con- 
ducted  the  office  of  governor  with  the  same  labo- 
rious fidelity  which  he  had  displayed  as  sheriff  and 
as  mayor.     And  now  as  before  he  antagonized  ele- 
ments of  his  own  party  who  sought  only  the  opjior- 
tunities  of  office  and  cared  little  for  its  responsibil- 
ities.    He  did  not  unite  suavity  of  nmnner  with 
vigor  of  action,  and  at  times  he  allowed  himself  to 
reflect  upon  the  motives  of  opponents  and  to  use 
language  that  was  personally  offensive.     He  told 
the  Legislature  in  one  veto  message  that  "of  all  the 
defective  and  shabby  legislation  which  has  been 
presented  to  me,  this  is  the  worst  and  most  inex- 
cusable. "    He  once  sent  a  scolding  message  to  the 
State  Senate,  in  which  he  said  that  "the  money  of 
the  State  is  apparently  expended  with  no  regard  to 
economy"  and,  that  "barefaced  jobbery  has  been 
permitted."    The  Senate  having  refused  to  con- 
firm a  certain  appointee,  he  declared  that  the  oppo- 
sition had  "its  rise  in  an  overwhelming  greed  for 
the  patronage  which  may  attach  to  the  place, "  and 
that  the  practical  effect  of  such  opposition  was  to 
perpetuate  "the  practice  of  unblushing  peculation," 
What  he  said  was  quite  true  and  it  was  the  kind  of 
truth  that  hurt.     The  brusqueness  of  his  official 


t 

A 


1 1 


i 

i 

t 

1 

(^ 

1 

'    1 

s 

1 

■ 

f 

i , 

m 


«>  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

style  and  the  oensoriousr       of  his  lan/fuage  infused 
even  more  personal  bitte.,  ...s  into  the  opposition 
which  developed  within  his  own  party  than  in  that 
felt  m  the  ranks  of  the  opposing  parly.     At  the 
same  time  these  traits  delighted  a  growing  body  of 
reformers  hostile  to  both  the  regular  parties.  These 
"Mugwumps, "as  they  were  called,  were  as  a  class 
so  addicted  to  personal  invective  that  it  was  said  of 
them  with  as  much  truth  as  wit  that  they  brought 
malice  into  politics  without  even  the  excuse  of 
partisanship.   But  it  was  probably  the  enthusiastic 
support  of  this  class  which  turned  the  scale  in  New 
York  in  the  presidential  election  of  1884. 

In  the  national  conventions  of  that  year  there 
was  an  unusually  small  amount  of  factional  strife. 
In  the  Republican  convention  President  Arthur 
was  a  candidate,  hut  party  sentiment  was  so  strong 
for  Blaine  that  he  led  Arthur  on  the  first  ballot  and 
was  nominated  on  the  fourth  by  a  large  majority. 
In  the  Democratic  convention,  Cleveland  was  nom- 
inated on  the  second  ballot.     Meanwhile  his  op- 
ponents had  organized  a  new  party  from  which 
more  was  expected  than  it  actually  accomplished. 
It  assumed  the  title  Anti-Monopoly  and  choso  the 
notorious  demagogue,  General  Benjamin  F.  BuUer, 
as  its  candidate  for  President. 


CBEHTEM  A.  ARTHVR 
Pbotognpk. 


fc- 


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,1,..:       t....'^ 


.1 


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(I 


!  ! 


i 


THE  ADVENT  OF  CLEVELAND  51 

During  this  campaign  the  satirical  cartoon  at- 
tained a  power  and  an  effectiveness  difficult  to 
realize  now  that  it  has  become  an  ordinary  feature 
of  journab'sm,  equally  available  for  any  school  of 
opinion.  But  it  so  happened  that  the  rise  of  Cleve- 
land in  politics  coincided  with  the  artistic  career  of 
Joseph  Keppler,  who  came  to  this  country  from 
Vienna  and  who  for  some  years  supported  himself 
chiefly  as  an  actor  in  Western  theatrical  companies. 
He  had  studied  drawing  in  Vienna  and  had  con- 
tributed cartoons  to  periodicals  in  that  city.  After 
some  unsuccessful  ventures  in  illustrated  journal- 
ism he  started  a  pictorial  weekly  in  New  York  in 
1875.  It  was  originally  printed  in  German,  but  in 
less  than  a  year  it  was  issued  also  in  English.  It 
was  not  until  1879  that  it  sprang  into  general  no- 
tice through  Keppler's  success  in  reproducing  litho- 
graphed designs  in  color.  Meanwhile  the  artist 
was  feeling  his  way  from  the  old  style  caricature, 
crowded  with  figures  with  overhead  loops  of  ex- 
planatory text,  to  designs  possessing  an  artistic 
unity  expressive  of  an  idea  plain  enough  to  tell  its 
own  story.  He  had  matured  both  his  mechanical 
resources  and  his  artistic  method  by  the  time  the 
campaign  of  1884  came  on,  and  he  had  founded  a 
school  which  could  apply  the  style  to  American 


Y 

■  * 

i 


t 


I 

I'/ 

■'1 
I 


f 


If 


U    I  t 


«2  THE  CLE\'EL.1ND  ERA 

politics  with  aptness  superior  to  his  oim.     ft  mm 
Bernhard  Gilbw,  who,  working  in  the  new  Keppfer 
style,  produced  a  series  of  cartons  whose  ti«nen- 
dous    impressireness  was  universaJJy  recogniwd 
Blame  was  depicted  as  the  tattooed  n»ii  and  wa»ex- 
hihittHl  in  that  character  in  aU  sorts  of  telling  situ- 
afons     While  on  the  stump  during  the  campaign. 
Blame  had  sometknes  literally  to  wade  through 
cumpaim  documents  assdling  his  personal  integrity 
•nd  phr»es  culled  from  the.  werechanted .public 
processioas.     One  of  the  fe^res  of  a  gr«t  parade 
of  business  men  of  New  Y«rt  was  a  periodical  cho- 
rus of  "B^rn  thi«  letter/    siting  the  acti<»  to 
the  word  and  thus  maJdng  a  strik«g  pyrMedmic 
display.'     But  the  cartoon,  reached  people  who 
would  never  have  been  touched  by  campaign  dac- 
umcnts  or  by  campaign  processions. 

Notwithstanding  the  exceptional  violence  and 
novel  ingenuity  of  the  attadts  made  upon  him 
Blame  met  them  with  such  abflity  and  address  that 
everywhere  he  augmented  the  ordinary  strength  of 

public  b>  Mr.  Blame  h.mKlf  when  it  had  Uen  charged  that  they  con- 
Um^Jevdenceofcorruptbuainessdeding..  T^.Z\Jr^ZZ. 
ma.Je  four  >;ear,  before  and  ample  opportunity  had  existed  forZuS 
og  proceeding,  if  the  ca«  warranted  it.  but  «thing  wa.  done  «^t 
to  nurse  the  scandal  for  campaign  use.  «aone  except 


THE  ADVENT  OF  CLEVELAND  58 

his  party,  and  his  eventual  defeat  was  generally 
attributed  to  an  untoward  event  among  his  own  ad- 
herents at  the  close  of  the  campaign.  At  u  politi- 
cal reception  in  the  interest  of  Blaine  among  New 
York  clergymen,  the  Reverend  Dr.  Burchard  spoke 
of  the  Democratic  party  as  "the  party  of  rum, 
Romanism,  and  rebellion. "  Unfortunately  Blaine 
did  not  hear  him  distinctly  enough  to  repudiate  this 
slur  upon  the  religious  belief  ai  millions  of  Amer- 
ican citizens,  and  alienation  of  sentiment  caused  by 
the  tactless  and  intolerant  remark  could  easily  ac- 
count for  Blaine's  defeat  by  a  small  margin.  He 
was  only  1 149  votes  behind  Cleveland  in  New  York 
in  a  poll  of  over  1,125,000  votes  and  only  23,005 
votes  behind  in  a  national  poll  of  over  9,700,000 
votes  for  the  leading  candidates.  ( )f  course  Geve- 
land  in  his  turn  was  a  target  of  calumny,  and  in  his 
case  the  end  of  the  campaign  did  not  bring  the 
customary  relief.  He  was  pursued  to  the  end  <»f 
his  public  career  by  active,  ingenious,  resourceful, 
personal  spite  and  steady  malignity  of  political 
opposition  from  interests  whose  enmity  he  had 
incurred  while  (lovernor  of  New  York. 

The  situation  which  confronted  Cleveland  when 
he  became  President  was  so  complicated  and  em- 
barrassing that  perhaps  even  the  most  sagacious 


■\\ 


I     i 


) 


/     « 


I 


H; 


!' 


' 


54  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

and  resourceful  statesman  could  not  have  coped 
with  it  successfully,  though  it  is  the  characteris- 
tic  of  genius  to  accomplish  the  impossible.     But 
Cleveland  was  no  genius;  he  was  not  even  a  man 
of  marked  talent.     He  was  stanch,  plodding,  labo- 
rious, and  dutiful,  but  he  was  lacking  in  ability  to 
penetrate  to  the  heart  of  obscure  political  problems 
and  to  deal  with  primary  cau.ses  rather  than  with 
effects.     The  great  successes  of  his  administration 
were  gained  in  particular  problems  who.se  signifi- 
cance had  already  been  clearly  defined.   In  this  field 
Cleveland's  resolute  and  energetic  performance  of 
duty  had  splendid  results. 

At  the  time  of  Cleveland's  inauguration  as  Presi- 
dent  the  Senate  claimed  an  extent  of  authority 
which,  if  allowed  to  go  unchallenged,  would  have 
turned  the  Presidency  into  an  office  much  like  that 
of  the  doge  of  Venice,  one  of  ceremonial  dignity 
without  real  power.    The  Federalist  ~  that  match- 
less  collection  of  constitutional  e.s.says  written  by 
Hamilton.   Madison,   and   Jay  -  laid   down  the 
doctrine  that  -  against  the  enterprising  ambition" 
of  the  legislative  department  "  the  people  ought  to 
indulge  all  their  jealousy  and  exhaust  all  their  pre- 
cautions. "     But  .some  of  the  precautions  taken  in 
frammg  the  Constitution  proved  ineffectual  from 


THE  AmTAT  OF  CI.KVKIANI)  .« 

the  start.  Tin-  riKlit  confcrnd  upon  t  he  IVosidmt 
to  recommend  to  th«  considiration  of  Conffress 
"such  measures  as  he  shall  jud^c  necessary  and  ex- 
pedient" was  emptied  of  practical  importance  hy 
the  success  of  Coii^rress  in  interpreting  it  as  mean- 
ing no  more  than  that  the  President  may  request 
Congress  to  take  a  subject  into  consideration.  In 
practice  Congress  considers  only  such  measures 
as  are  recommended  l»y  its  own  (ouunittees.  T\w 
framers  of  the  Constitution  took  sp^vial  pains  to 
fortify  the  President's  position  h.v  the  veto  pow«>r, 
which  is  treated  at  length  in  the  Constitution.  By 
a  special  clause  Hie  veto  power  was  extended  to 
"every  order,  resolution  or  vote  .   except  on 

a  question  of  adjournment  *'  -  a  clau-'-e  which 
apparently  should  enable  the  President  to  strike 
off  the  '*  riders  "  continually  put  upon  appropriat  ion 
bills  to  coerce  executive  action,  but  no  Pnsident 
ha.s  ventured  to  exercise  this  authority.  Although 
the  Senate  was  joined  to  the  President  as  an  ad- 
visory council  in  appointments  to  office,  it  was 
explained  in  The  Federalist  that  -there  will  be 
no  exertion  of  choice  on  the  part  of  Senators." 
Nevertheless  the  Senate  has  claimed  and  exercised 
the  right  to  dictate  appointments.  While  thus 
.Huccessfully  encroaching  upon  the  authority  of  the 


i 


n 


i 


56  THE  CLEVELAND  ER.\ 

President,  the  Senate  had  also  been  signalJy  sue 
cessful  in  encroaching  upon  the  authority  of  the 
House.    The  framers  of  the  Constitution  antici- 
pated  for  the  House  a  masterful  career  hke  that  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  and  they  feared  that  the 
Senate  could  not  protect  itself  in  the  discharge  of 
its  own  functions;  so.  although  the  traditional  prin- 
ciple that  all  revenue  bills  should  originate  in  the 
House  was  taken  over  into  the  Constitution,  it  was 
modified  by  the  proviso  that  "  the  Senate  may  pro- 
pose  or  concur  with  amendments  as  on  other  bills. " 
This  right  to  propose  amendments  has  been  im- 
proved by  the  Senate  until  the  prerogative  of  the 
House  has  been  reduced  to  an  empty  form.    Any 
money  bill  may  be  made  over  by  amendment  in  the 
Senate,  and  when  contests  have  followed  the  Senate 
has  been  so  successful  in  imposing  its  will  upon  the 
House  that  the  House  has  acquired  the  habit  of 
submission.    Not  long  before  the  election  of  Cleve- 
land,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  this  habitual  de- 
ference of  the  House  had  enabled  the  Senat*'  to 
originate  a  voluminous  tariff  act  in  the  form  of 
an  amendment  to  the  Internal  Revenue  Bill  voted 
by  the  House. 

In  addition  to  these  extensions  of  power  through 
superior  address  in  management,  the  ascendancy 


i*". 


TIIE  ADVENT  OP  CLEVELAND  57 

of  the  Senate  was  fortified  by  positive  law.  In 
1867,  when  President  Johnson  fell  out  with  the  Re- 
publican leaders  in  Congress,  a  Tenure  of  Office  Act 
was  passed  over  his  veto,  which  took  away  from  the 
President  the  jwwer  of  making  removals  except  by 
permission  of  the  Senate.  In  1809,  when  John- 
son's term  had  expired,  a  bill  for  the  unconditional 
repeal  of  this  law  passed  the  House  with  only  six- 
teen votes  in  the  negative,  but  the  Senate  was  able 
to  force  a  compromise  act  which  i>erpetuated  its 
authority  over  removals.'  President  (Irani  com- 
plained of  this  act  as  "being  inconsistent  with  a 
faithful  and  »'flBcient  administration  of  the  govern- 
ment, "  but  with  all  his  great  fame  and  po|)ularity 
he  was  unable  to  induce  the  Senate  to  relinquish 
the  power  it  had  gained. 

This  law  was  now  invoked  by  Republicans  as  a 
means  of  counteracting  the  result  of  the  election. 
Such  was  the  feeling  of  the  times  that  partisanship 
could  easily  masquerade  as  patriotism.  Repub- 
Ikans  still  believed  that  as  saviors  of  the  Union 
they  had  a  prescriptive  right  to  the  govern- 
ment.    During  the  campaign,  Eugene  Field,  the 

'  The  .\cl  of  April  5.  ISOO.  require*!  the  President,  within  thirty 
days  nftcr  the  opening  of  I  he  sessions,  to  nominate  person.s  for  ull  va- 
cant ofBt-es,  whether  temporarily  filled  or  not.  and  in  plnee  of  all  offirers 
who  may  have  been  suspeniled  during  the  reicss  of  the  Senate. 


I" 


fcJ 


»!• 


i 


«8  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

famous  Western  poet,  had  given  a  typical  expres- 
sion of  this  sentiment  in  some  scornful  verses 
concluding  with  this  defiant  notice: 

Thes*'  «|uondum  n-fK'l.s  come  today 

In  |)enitentiai  form, 
AncI  liyp(N>ritically  say 

The  country  needs  "Reform!" 
Out  on  reformers  such  as  these; 

By  Freedom's  sacred  powers. 
We'll  run  the  country  as  we  please; 

We  saved  it,  and  it's  ours. 

Although  the  Demwratic  party  had  won  the  Presi- 
dency and  the  House,  the  Republicans  still  retained 
control  of  the  Senate,  and  they  were  expected  as  a 
matter  of  course  to  use  their  powers  for  party  ad- 
vantage. .Some  memorable  struggles,  rich  in  con- 
stitutional precedents,  issued  from  these  conditions. 


\  'I 


■!    I 


r 


CIIAI»l7:il  IV 


A  rONHTITmONAI.  <  RlfilS 


Ah  soon  as  Clt'vrliind  was  s«»altMl  in  Iho  presidential 
ehair  he  had  to  deal  with  a  tremendous  onslaught 
of  office  .seekers.  In  ordinary  l)usin(>ss  atfairs  a 
man  responsihle  for  ^'eneral  poliey  and  niiina^e- 
ment  would  never  Im'  expeeted  to  fritter  away  hi.s 
time  and  strenjfth  in  reeeivinR  applicants  for  em- 
ployment. The  fact  that  such  servitude  is  imjMJsed 
upon  the  President  of  the  United  States  shows  that 
American  political  arran^'ement.s  are  still  rather 
barbaric,  for  such  usaf?es  are  more  suitable  to  some 
kinglet  seated  under  a  tree  to  receive  the  petitions 
of  his  tribesmen  than  t  hey  are  to  a  republican  nui;,n- 
stratecharge<l  with  the  welfar«'of  millions  of  |H'ople 
distributed  over  a  vast  continenf.  Office  seekers 
apparently  regard  themselves  as  a  privilrgc<l  <lass 
with  a  right  of  personal  access  tc  »lic  President, 
and  any  appearances  of  aloofness  or  reserve  on  his 
pari  gives  sharp  offense.    The  exceptional  force  of 

5ii 


I 


'    1 


I. 


If 


•0  THE  CLEVEUND  ERA 

such  claims  of  privilr^i.  in  f  ho  T^nilril  States  may  hp 
nttribttted  to  the  partiVlpatioii  which  meml>or.s  of 
Congress  hav««  accjuire*!  in  the  apfwinting  power. 
The  system  thus  created  inipo.ses  ujion  the  Presi- 
dent  the  duties  of  an  .  mployment  agent  and  at  the 
same  time  eng.iges  Congressmen  in  continual  occu- 
pation as  offi«  e  brokers.  The  President  eunnot  deny 
himself  to  Congressmen,  sin.e  lie  ,s  dependent 
upon  their  favor  for  op,)ortunity  to  get  legislative 
cons  derai  ion  U>r  his  measures. 

It  was  inev  r  able  that  numerous  changes  in  office 
shouM  take  pla.e  when  t  he  Demotralic  party  came 
into  power  after  beinr  exduded  for  twenty-four 
years.    It  may  be  admitird  that,  in  a  sound  con- 
stitutional system,  a  change  of  management  in  the 
public  business  v.ould  not  vacate  all  offices  any 
more  than  in  private  business,  but   would  affect 
only  such  leading  positions  as  are  responsible  for 
policy  and  discipline.     Such  a  sensible  system, 
however,  had  existed  only  in  the  early  days  of  the 
republic  and  at  the  time  of  Cleveland's  accession  to 
office  federal  offices  were  generally  used  as  party 
barracks.    The  situation  which  confronted  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  he  thus  described  in  later  years: 

In  numerous  instances  the  post-oflBccs  were  made  head- 
quarters for  local  party  coramittecs  and  c  ganizations 


A  CONSTITLTIONAl.  CRISIS  01 

and  the  wntiTH  of  partisan  ."whoming.    Party  lilcraturp 
favorahlp  to  the  iMwIiiuistrr's  party.  I  hat  lu'ver  pa.HM>d 
r«'KiiIarly  throiiKh  thr  inaiN.  was  clistrihutp*!  thnmxh 
thr  iM>st-ofTi«-«'s  a<«  an  il«Mii  of  party  sprvij-e.  and  riiattpr 
of  a  political  rliarartor.  passing  throuwh  the  rnaiU  in  the 
iJ.Hual  {•oiirsc'  and  addn>ss(>d  to  patronn  In-lonKinK  to  tho 
o[)|K).Hitp  party,  was  wilhhHd;  din^ustinK  and  irritating 
plaiards  vrt*  prominently  displayed  in   many  |M)st- 
offices.  and  the  attention  of  F)emoeratic  in<|uirers  for 
mail  matter  was  tauntinxly  directH  to  them  by  the 
postmaster;  and  in  various  other  ways  postmasters  and 
similar  <»ffirials  annoyed  and  vexi'd  th<»se  holding  op- 
I)osite  |K>iitieal  «»i)inions.  who.  in  rommon  with  all  having 
Imsiness  at  public  offiit-s.  were  entitle*!  to  <'orisiderate 
and  obliging  tmitment.     In  some  eiuarters  official  in- 
eundients  negle<ted  public  duty  to  do  political  work, 
and  esj)ecially  in  Southern  States  they  fnvpiently  wen« 
not  only  inordinately  active  in  cpicstionable  |M»liticaI 
work,  but  sought  to  do  party  ser\  t-e  by  secret  and 
sinister  manipulation  of  coloml  votes,  and  by  other 
practices  inviting  avoidable  and  dan;;erous  c«)llisions 
between  the  white  and  colored  |)opululion. ' 

The  Administration  brgnn  its  career  in  March, 
1885.  The  Sctmic  did  not  convene  until  Decem- 
ber. Meanwhile  removals  and  appointment.s  went 
on  in  the  public  scrvire,  the  total  for  ten  months 
being  six  hundred  and  forty-three,  which  was 
thirty-seven  less  than  the  nuudur  of  removals 
made  by  President  (irant  in  seven  weeks,  in  18G9. 

•  CL'veland,  Pretidenlial  ProUnna,  pp.  ♦«  -43. 


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'V 


62  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

In  obedience  to  the  statute  of  1869,  President 
Cleveland  sent  in  all  the  recess  appointments 
within  thirty  days  after  the  opening  of  the  session, 
llicy  were  referred  to  various  committees,  accord- 
ing to  the  long  established  custom  of  the  Senate, 
buJ  the  Senate  moved  so  slowly  that  three  months 
after  the  opening  of  the  session  only  seventeen 
nominations  had  been  considered,  fifteen  of  which 
the  Senate  confirmed. 

Meanwhile  the  Senate  had  raised  an  issue  which 
the  Presi.ient  met  with  a  force  and  a  directness 
probably  unexpected.    Among  the  recess  appoint- 
ments was  one  to  the  office  of  District  Attorney 
for  the  Southern  District  of  Alabama,  in  place  of  an 
officer  who  had  been  suspended  in  July,  1885,  but 
whose  term  of  office  expired  by  limitation  on  De- 
cember 20, 1885.  Therefore,  at  the  time  the  Senate 
took  up  the  case,  the  Tenure  of  Office  Act  did  not 
apply  to  it,  and  the  only  question  actually  open  was 
whether  the  acting  officer  should  be  confirmed  or 
rejected.     Nevertheless,  the  disposition  to  assert 
control  over  executive  action  was  so  strong  that  the 
Senate  drifted  into  a  constitutional  struggle  over  a 
case  that  did  not  then  involve  the  question  of  the 
President's  discretionary  power  of  removal  from 
office,  which  was  really  the  point  at  issue. 


ii 


A  CONSTITUTIONAL  CRISIS  63 

On  December  26, 1885,  the  Judiciary  Committee 
notified  the  Attorney-General  to  transmit  "all 
papers  and  information  in  the  possession  of  the 
Deparlmenl"  regarding  both  the  nomi  ation  and 
"the  suspension  and  proposed  removal  from  of- 
fice" of  the  former  incumbent.    On  January  11, 
1886,  the  Attorney-General  sent  to  the  Committee 
the  papers  bearing  upon  the  nomination  but  with- 
held those  touching  the  removal,  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  "received  no  direction  from  the  Presi- 
dent in   relation   to  their  transmission."     The 
matter  was  debated  by  the  Senate  in  executive 
session,  and  on  January  25,  1886,  a  resolution  was 
adopted  which  was  authoritative  in  its  tone  and 
which  directed  the  Attorney-General  to  transmit 
copies  of  all  documents  and  papers  in  relation 
to  the  conduct  of  the  oflSce  of  District  Attorney 
for  the  Southern  District  of  Alabama  since  Janu- 
ary 1,  1885.    Within  three  days  Attorney-General 
Garland  responded  that  he  had  already  transmit- 
ted all  papers  relating  to  the  nomination,  but  with 
regard  to  the  demand  for  papers  exclusively  relat- 
ing to  the  suspension  of  the  former  incumbent  he 
was  directed  by  the  President  to  say  "that  it  is 
not  considered  that  the  public  interests  will  be 
promoted  by  a  compliance. " 


i 


■hi 


1. 


'i 


64 


THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 


The  response  of  the  Attorney-General  was  re- 
ferred to  the  Judiciary  Committee  which,  on  the 
18  th  of  February,  made  an  elaborate  report  ex- 
hibiting the  issue  as  one  which  involved  the  right 
of  Congress  to  obtain  information.  It  urged  that 
"the  important  question,  then,  is  whether  it  is 
within  the  constitutional  competence  of  either 
House  of  Congress  to  have  access  to  the  official 
papers  and  documents  in  the  various  public  offices 
of  the  United  States,  created  by  laws  enacted  by 
themselves."  The  report,  which  was  signed  only 
by  the  Republican  members  of  the  Committee, 
was  an  adroit  partisan  performance,  invoking 
traditional  constitutional  principles  in  behalf  of 
congressional  privilege.  A  distinct  and  emphatic 
ass^  ion  of  the  prerogative  of  the  Senate  was  made, 
however,  in  resolutions  recommended  to  the  Sen- 
ate for  adoption.  Those  resolutions  censured  the 
Attorney-General  and  declared  it  to  be  the  duty 
of  the  Senate  "to  refuse  its  advice  and  consent  to 
proposed  removals  of  officers  "  when  papers  relating 
to  them  "are  withheld  by  the  Executive  or  any 
head  of  a  department. " 

On  the  2d  of  March,  a  minority  report  was  sub- 
mitted making  the  point  '^*  which  the  cogency  was 
obvious,  that  inasmuch  ^^  the  term  of  the  official 


iVi 


uo 


A  CONSTITUTIONAL  CRISI: 

concerning  whose  suspension  the  Ser.aie  under- 
took to  inquire  had  already  expired  by  legal  limita- 
tion, the  only  object  in  pressing  for  the  papers  in 
his  case  muot  be  to  review  an  act  of  the  President 
which  WBi  no  lor?er  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Senate,  even  if  the  constitutionality  of  the  Tenure 
of  OflSce  Act  should  be  granted.    The  report  also 
showed  that  of  the  precedents  cited  in  behalf  of  the 
majority's  contention,  the  applicability  could  be 
maintained  only  of   those  which  were  supplied 
by  cases  arising  since  1867,  before  which  time  the 
right  of  the  President  to  remove  oflBcers  at  his  own 
discretion  was  fully  conceded. 

The  controversy  had  so  far  followed  the  ordinary 
lines  of  partisan  contention  in  Congress,  which 
public  opinion  was  accustomed  to  regard  with  con- 
temptuous indifference  as  mere  sparring  for  points 
in  the  electioneering  game.    President  Cleveland 
now  intervened  in  a  way  which  riveted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  nation  upon  the  issue.    Ever  since  the 
memorable  struggle  which  began  when  the  Senate 
censured  President  Jackson  and  did  not  end  until 
that  censure  was  expunged,  the  Senate  had  been 
chary  of  a  direct  encounter  with  the  President. 
Although  the  response  of  the  Attorney-General 
stated  that  he  was  acting  under  the  direction  of 


I 


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I' 

I 


I  f 


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1 


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if  \ 


M  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

the  President,  the  pending  resolutions  avoided  any 
mention  of  the  President  but  exjiressed  "condom- 
nation  of  the  refusal  of  the  Attorney-C  eneral 
under  whatever  influence,  to  send  to  the  Senate" 
the  required  i)aper.s.  The  logical  implication  was 
that,  when  the  orders  of  the  President  and  the 
Senate  conflicted,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Attorney- 
General  to  obey  the  Senate.  This  raised  an  issue 
which  President  Cleveland  met  by  sending  to  the 
Senate  his  message  of  March  1,  1886,  which  has 
taken  a  high  rank  among  American  constitutional 
documents.  It  is  strong  in  its  logic,  dignified  in  its 
tone,  terse,  direct,  and  forceful  in  its  diction. 

Cleveland's  message  open*^d  with  the  statement 
that  "ever  since  the  beginning  of  the  present  ses- 
sion of  the  Senate  the  different  heads  of  the  de- 
partments attached  to  the  executive  branch  of  the 
government  have  been  plied  with  various  requests 
and  documents  from  committees  of  the  Senate, 
from  members  of  such  committees,  and  at  last 
from  the  Senate  itself,  requiring  the  transmission 
of  reasons  for  the  suspension  of  certain  officials 
during  the  recess  of  that  body,  or  for  papers 
touching  the  conduct  of  such  officials. "  The  Presi- 
dent  then  observed  that  "though  these  suspensions 
are  my  executive  acts,  based  upon  considerations 


A  CONSTITUTIONAL  CRISIS  67 

addressed  to  inc  alone  and  for  which  I  am  wholly 
responsible,  I  have  had  no  invitation  from  the 
Senate  to  state  the  position  which  I  have  felt  con- 
strained to  assume."  Further  on  he  clinched  this 
admission  of  full  responsibility  by  declarirg  that 
"the  letter  of  the  Attorney-General  in  response  to 
the  resolution  of  the  Senate  .  .  .  was  written  at 
my  suggestion  and  by  my  direction." 

This  statement  made  clear  in  the  sight  of  the 
nation  that  the  true  issue  was  between  the  Presi- 
dent and  the  Senate.  The  strength  of  the  Senate's 
position  lay  in  its  claim  to  the  right  of  access  to  the 
records  of  public  offices  "created  by  laws  enacted 
by  themselves. "  The  counterstroke  of  the  Presi- 
dent was  one  of  the  most  effective  passages  of  his 
message  in  its  effect  upon  public  opinion.  "I  do 
not  suppose,"  he  said,  "that  the  public  offices  of 
the  United  States  are  regulated  or  controlled  in 
their  relations  to  either  House  of  Congress  by  the 
fact  that  they  were  'created  by  laws  enacted  by 
themselves.'  It  must  be  that  these  instrumen- 
talities were  enacted  for  the  benefit  of  the  people 
and  to  answer  the  general  purposes  of  government 
under  the  Const  ution  and  the  laws,  and  that 
Ihey  are  unencumbered  by  any  lien  in  favor  of 
either  branch  of  Congress  growing  out  of  their 


i 

I 
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! 


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68  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

construction,  and  unembarrassed  by  any  obligation 
to  the  Senate  as  thf  price  of  their  creation. " 

The  President  asserted  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
no  official  papers  on  file  in  the  departments  had 
been  withheld.  "While  it  is  by  no  means  conceded 
that  the  Senate  has  the  right  in  any  case  to  review 
the  act  of  the  Executive  in  removing  or  suspending 
a  public  officer,  upon  official  documents  or  other- 
wise, it  is  considered  that  documents  and  papers 
of  that  nature  should,  because  they  are  official,  be 
freely  transmitted  to  the  Senate  upon  its  demand, 
trusting  the  use  of  the  same,  for  proper  and  legiti- 
mate purposes,  to  the  good  faith  of  that  body;  and 
though  no  such  paper  or  document  has  been  es- 
pecially demanded  in  any  oi  the  numerous  requests 
and  demands  made  upon  the  departments,  yet  as 
often  as  they  were  found  in  the  public  offices  they 
have  been  furnished  in  answer  to  such  applica- 
tions." The  point  made  by  the  President,  with 
sharp  emphasis,  was  t'l  I  "^  was  nothing  in  his 
action  which  could  '■  -ued  as  a  refusal  of 

access  to  official  recc  uat  he  did  refuse  to 

acknowledge  was  the  right  of  the  Senate  to  inquire 
into  his  motives  and  to  exact  from  him  a  disclosure 
of  the  facts,  circumstances,  and  sources  of  infor- 
mation that  prompted  his  action.    The  materials 


h.- 


\m 


h> 


A  CONSTITUTIONAL  CRISIS  00 

upon  which  his  judgment  was  formed  were  of  a 
varied  character.  "They  consist  of  letters  and 
representations  addressed  to  the  Executive  or  in- 
tended for  his  inspection;  they  are  voluntarily 
written  and  presented  by  private  citizens  who  are 
not  in  the  least  instigated  thereto  by  any  official 
invitation  or  at  all  subject  to  official  control. 
While  some  of  them  are  entitled  to  Executive  con- 
sideration, many  of  them  are  so  irrelevant  or  in  the 
light  of  other  facts  so  worthless,  that  they  have  not 
been  given  the  least  weight  in  determining  the 
question  to  which  they  are  supposed  to  relate." 
If  such  matter  were  to  be  considered  public  records 
and  subject  to  the  inspection  of  the  Senate,  the 
President  would  thereby  incur  "the  risk  of  being 
charged  with  making  a  suspension  from  office  upon 
evidence  which  was  not  even  considered. " 

Issue  as  to  the  status  of  such  documents  was 
joined  by  the  President  in  the  sharpest  possible 
way  by  the  declaration:  "I  consider  them  in  no 
proper  sense  as  upon  the  tiles  of  the  department 
but  as  deposited  there  for  my  convenience,  re- 
maining still  completely  under  my  control.  I 
suppose  if  I  desired  to  take  them  into  my  custody 
I  might  do  so  with  entire  propriety,  and  if  I  saw 
fit  to  destroy  them  no  one  could  complain. " 


I- 


1' 


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'.-«' 


^ 


70  TIIE  rLEVT.LWD  ERA 

Moreover,  there  were  eases  in  whieh  action  was 
prompted  by  oral  communications  which  did  not 
go  on  record  in  any  form.  As  to  this,  Clevt-hmd 
observ  J,  "It  will  ,  jt  he  denied,  I  sii|>|)osc,  that 
the  President  inay  suspend  »  public  oHicer  hi  the 
entire  absence  of  any  papers  or  d(u-unient&  t  > 
aid  his  official  judgment  and  discretion;  and  I  am 
quite  prepared  to  avow  that  the  eases  are  not  few 
in  which  suspensions  from  office  have  depended 
more  upon  oral  representations  made  to  me  by 
citizens  of  known  good  repute  and  by  members  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  and  Senators  of  the 
United  States  than  upon  any  letters  and  docu- 
ments presented  for  my  examination."  Nor  were 
such  representations  confined  to  members  of  his 
own  party  for,  said  he,  "I  recall  a  few  suspensions 
which  bear  the  approval  of  individual  members 
identified  politically  with  the  majority  in  the 
Senate. "  The  message  then  reviewed  the  legisla- 
tive histt  '  of  the  Tenure  of  Office  Act  and  ques- 
tioned its  constitutionality.  The  position  which 
the  President  had  taken  and  wou  maintain 
was  exactly  defined  by  this  vigorous  statement  in 
his  message: 

The  requests  and  demands  which  by  the  score  have  for 
nearly  three  months  been  presented  to  the  different 


m 


A  rONSTmmONAT,  CRISIS 


71 


Dcpartiiu'nJs  of  the  mivernuu'iit,  whatever  may  Ik*  their 
form,  have  hut  (  ne  complexion.  They  assume  the  right 
of  the  Senate  to  sit  in  judgement  U|M)n  the  exercise  of  my 
cxchjsiv"  riiscretion  and  executive  function,  for  which  I 
am  s()l<>ly  responsible  tn  the  jjcople  from  whom  I  have 
so  lately  n-ceived  the  saen-d  trust  of  office.  My  oath  t(» 
support  and  defend  tiie  Con.stitution.  my  duty  to  the 
jH'ople  who  have  chosen  me  to  execute  tlie  powers  of 
their  great  oHice  and  not  relincpiish  them,  and  my  duty 
to  the  chief  magistracy  which  I  must  preserve  unim- 
paired in  uU  its  dignity  and  vigor,  compel  me  to  refuse 
compliance  with  these  demands. 

There  is  a  ringing  quality  in  the  .style  of  this 
message  not  generally  characteristic  of  President 
Cleveland's  state  papers.  It  evoked  a.s  ringing  u 
response  t^'oni  public  opinion,  and  this  effect  was 
heightened  by  u  tactless  allusion  to  the  mes.sage 
made  at  this  time  in  the  Senate.  In  moving  a 
reference  of  the  message  to  the  Judiciary  Com- 
mittee, its  chairman.  Senator  Edmunds  of  Ver- 
mont, remarked  that  the  presidential  message 
brought  vividly  to  his  mind  "the  communicution 
of  King  Charles  I  to  the  Parliament,  t  ding  Ihcm 
what,  in  conducting  their  affairs,  thc.\  ought  to  do 
and  ought  not  to  do."  The  historical  reference, 
however,  bf  d  an  application  which  Senator  Ed- 
munds did  not  foresee.  It  brought  vividly  to  mind 
what  the  people  of  England  had  endured  from  a 


Jr, 


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IN 


«  THE  CLE\'ELANn  ER.\ 

factional  tyranny  so  relentless  that  the  nation  was 
delighted  when  Oliver  Cromwell  turned  Parliament 
out  of  door.1.  It  is  an  interesting  coincidence  that 
the  Cleveland  era  was  marked  by  what  in  the  book 
trade  was  known  as  the  Cromwell  boom.  Another 
unfortunate  remark  made  by  Senator  Edmunds 
was  that  it  was  the  first  time  "  that  any  President 
of  the  United  States  has  undertaken  to  interfere 
with  the  deliberations  of  either  House  of  Con- 
gress on  questions  pending  before  them,  otherwise 
than  by  message  on  the  state  of  the  Union  which 
the  Constitution  commands  him  to  make  I'rom 
time  to  time. "  The  effect  of  this  statement,  how- 
ever, was  to  stir  up  recollections  of  President 
Jackson's  message  of  protest  against  the  censure  f 
the  Senate.  The  principle  laid  down  by  Jack- 
son in  his  message  of  April  15,  1834,  was  that 
"the  President  is  the  direct  representative  of  the 
American  people,"  whereas  the  Senate  is  *a  body 
not  directly  amenable  to  the  people."  However 
assailable  this  statement  may  be  from  the  stand- 
point of  traditional  legal  theory,  it  is  indubitably 
the  principle  to  which  American  politics  conform  in 
practice.  The  people  instinctively  expect  the  Presi- 
dent to  guard  their  interests  against  congressional 
machinations. 


A  CONSTITLTIONAL  CRI&l.-^  73 

There  was  a  prevulent  belief  that  the  Senate's 
profession  of  moti\fs  of  c^onstitutional  pntpriet 
was  insincere  and  thai  tlie  position  it  had  r.ssuined 
would  never  have  been  thought  of  ha  th«*  f.  • 
publican  candidate  for  President  been  electee.  A 
feeling  that  the  S<*nate  was  not  playing  the  game 
fairly  to  refuse  the  Democrats  their  innings  was 
felt  even  among  Senator  Edmunds'  own  adherents. 
A  spirit  of  comity  traMi  ng  party  lines  is  very 
noticeable  in  the  intert  ^e  of  professional  poli- 
ticians. Their  willingness  to  help  each  other  out 
is  often  manifested,  particularly  in  struggles  in- 
volving control  of  party  machinery.  Indeed,  a 
system  of  ring  rule  in  a  governing  party  seems  to 
have  for  its  natural  concomitant  the  formation  of  a 
similar  ring  in  the  regular  opposition,  and  the  cvvo 
rings  maintain  friendly  relations  behind  the  forms 
of  party  antagonism.  The  situation  is  very  similar 
to  tha'  'hlA\  e.asts  between  opposing  counsel  in 
suits  a  aw.  where  the  contentions  at  the  trial 
tabic  may  seem  to  be  full  of  animosity  and  may 
'deed  at  times  really  develop  personal  enmity, 
but  which  as  a  general  rule  are  merely  for  effect 
and  do  not  at  all  hinder  cooperation  in  matters 
pertaining  to  their  common  professional  interest. 

The  attitude  taken  by  the  Senate  in  its  opposition 


c 
I 

r. 


U- 


V 


74  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

to  President  Cleveland  jarred  upon  this  sense  of 
professional  comity,  and  it  was  very  noticeable 
that  in  the  midst  of  the  struggle  some  question- 
able nominations  of  notorious  machine  politicians 
were  confirmed  by  the  Senate.  It  may  have  been 
that  a  desire  to  discredit  the  reform  professions 
of  the  Administration  contributed  to  this  result, 
but  the  effect  was  disadvantageous  to  the  Sen- 
ate. The  Nation  on  March  11,  1886,  in  a  power- 
ful article  reviewing  the  controversy  observed: 
"There  is  not  the  smallest  reason  for  believing 
that,  if  the  Senate  won,  it  would  use  its  victory 
in  any  way  for  the  maintenance  or  promotion  of 
reform.  In  truth,  in  the  very  midst  of  the  con- 
troversy, it  confirmed  the  nomination  of  one  of 
Baltimore's  political  scamps. "  It  is  certainly  true 
that  the  advising  power  of  the  Senate  has  never 
exerted  a  corrective  influence  upon  appointments 
to  office;  its  constant  tendency  is  towards  a  sys- 
tem of  apportionment  which  concedes  the  right 
of  the  President  to  certain  personal  appointments 
and  asserts  the  reciprocal  right  of  Congressmen 
to  their  individual  quotas. 

As  a  result  of  these  various  influences  the 
position  assumed  by  the  Republicans  under  the 
lead  of  Senator  Edmunds  was  seriously  weakened. 


A  CONSTITUTIONAL  CRISIS  75 

When  the  resolutions  of  censure  were  put  to 
the  vote  on  the  26th  of  March,  that  condemning 
the  refusal  of  the  Attorney-General  to  produce  the 
papers  was  adopted  by  thirty-two  ayes  to  twenty- 
six  nays  —  a  strict  party  vote;  but  the  resolution 
declaring  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  Senate  in  all  such 
cases  to  refuse  its  consent  to  removals  of  suspended 
officials  was  adopted  by  a  majority  of  only  one 
vote,  and  two  Republican  Senators  voted  with  the 
Democrats.  The  result  was  in  effect  a  defeat  for 
the  Republican  leaders,  and  they  wisely  decided 
to  withdraw  from  the  position  which  they  had 
been  holding.  Shortly  after  the  passage  of  the 
resolutions  the  Senate  confirmed  the  nomination 
over  which  the  contest  started,  and  thereafter  the 
right  of  the  President  to  make  removals  at  his  own 
discretion  was  not  questioned. 

This  retreat  of  the  Republican  leaders  was  ac- 
companied, however,  by  a  new  development  in 
political  tactics  which  from  the  standpoint  of 
party  advantage  was  ingeniously  conceived.  It 
was  now  held  that,  inasmuch  as  the  President 
had  avowed  attachment  to  the  principle  of  tenure 
of  oflBce  during  good  behavior,  his  action  in  sus- 
pending ofiicers  therefore  implied  delinquency  in 
their  character  or  conduct  from  which  thev  should 


\ 


i: 


\yi 


1 


'?    ^ 


( 


76  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

be  exonerated  in  case  the  removal  was  really  on 
partisan  grounds.  In  reporting  upon  nominations, 
therefore,  Senate  committees  adopted  the  practice 
of  noting  that  there  were  no  charges  of  misconduct 
against  the  previous  incumbents  and  that  the  sus- 
pension was  on  account  of  "  political  reasons. "  As 
these  proceedings  took  place  in  executive  session, 
which  is  held  behind  closed  doors,  reports  of  this 
character  would  not  ordinarily  reach  the  public, 
but  the  Senate  now  voted  to  remove  the  injunction 
of  secrecy,  and  the  reports  were  published.  The 
manifest  object  of  these  maneuvers  was  to  exhibit 
the  President  as  acting  upon  the  "spoils  system" 
of  distributing  oflSces.  The  President's  position 
was  that  he  was  not  accountable  to  the  Senate  in 
such  matters.  In  his  message  of  the  1st  of  March 
he  said:  "The  pledges  I  have  made  were  made  to 
♦he  people,  and  to  them  I  am  responsible  for  the 
manner  in  which  they  have  been  redeemed.  I  am 
not  responsible  to  the  Senate,  and  I  am  unwilling 
to  submit  my  actions  and  oflScial  conduct  to  them 
for  judgement. " 

While  this  contest  was  still  going  on,  President 
Cleveland  had  to  encounter  another  attempt  of  the 
Senate  to  take  his  authority  out  of  his  hands.  The 
history  of  American  diplomacy  during  this  period 


A  CONSTITUTIONAL  CRISIS  77 

belongs  to  another  volume  in  this  series,"  but  a 
diplomatic  question  was  drawn  into  the  struggle 
between  the  President  and  the  Senate  in  such  a 
way  that  it  requires  mention  here.  Shortly  after 
President  Cleveland  took  office  the  fishery  articles 
of  the  Treaty  of  Washington  had  terminated.  In 
his  first  annual  message  to  Congress,  on  December 
8,  1885,  he  recommended  the  appointment  of  a 
commission  to  settle  with  a  similar  commission 
from  Great  Britain  "the  entire  question  of  the 
fishery  rights  of  the  two  governments  and  their 
respective  citizens  on  the  coasts  of  the  United 
States  and  British  North  America."  But  this 
sensible  advice  was  denounced  as  weak  and  cow- 
ardly. Oratory  of  the  kind  k  Dwn  as  "twisting 
the  lion's  tail"  resounded  in  Congress.  Claims 
were  made  of  natural  right  to  the  use  of  Canadian 
waters  which  would  not  have  been  indulged  for  a 
moment  in  respect  of  the  territorial  waters  of  the 
United  States.  For  instance,  it  was  held  that  a 
bay  over  six  miles  between  headlands  gave  free 
ingress  so  long  as  vessels  kept  three  miles  from 
shore  —  a  doctrine  which,  if  applied  to  Long  Is- 
land Sound,  Delaware  Bay,  or  Chesapeake  Bay, 

'  See  The  Path  of  Empire,  by  Carl  Russell  Fbh  (b  The  Chronicle*  of 
America). 


s 


H 


Vi 


s« 


i-» 


\  ^ 


i 


« i 


■f 


78  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

would  have  impaired  our  national  jurisdiction  over 
those  waters.    Senator  Frye  of  Maine  took  the 
lead  in  a  rub-a-dub  agitation  in  the  presence  of 
which  some  Democratic  Senators  showed  marked 
timidity.   The  administration  of  public  services  by 
congressional  committees  has  the  incurable  defect 
that  it  reflects  the  particular  interests  and  at- 
tachments of  the  committeemen.     Presidential  ad- 
ministration is  so  circumstanced  that  it  tends  to  be 
nationally  minded;  committee  administration  just 
as  naturally  tends  to  be  locally  minded.    Hence 
Senator  Frye  was  able  to  report  from  the  com- 
mittee on  foreign  relations  a  resolution  declaring 
that  a  commission  "charged  with  the  consider- 
ation and  settlement  of  the  fishery  rights 
ought  not  to  be  provided  for  by  Congress. "    Such 
was  the  attitude  of  the  Senate  towards  the  Presi- 
dent on  this  question  that  on  April  13,  1886,  this 
arrogant  resolution   was  adopted  by  thirty-five 
ayes  to  ten  nays.    A  group  of  Eastern  Democrats 
who  were  in  a  position  to  be  affected  by  the  long- 
shore vote  joined  with  the  Ptepublicans  in  vot- 
ing for  the  resolution,  and  among  them  Senator 
Gorman  of  Maryland,  national  chairman  of  the 
Democratic  party. 
President  Cleveland  was  no  more  affected  by 


u 


A  CONSTITUTIONAL  CRISIS  79 

this  Senate  resolution  than  he  had  been  by  their 
other  resohitions  attacking  his  authority.  He  went 
ahead  with  his  negotiations  and  concluded  treaty 
arrangements  which  the  Senate  of  course  rejected; 
but,  as  that  result  had  been  anticipated,  a  modus 
vivcndi  which  had  been  arranged  by  executive 
agreements  between  the  two  countries  went  into 
effect  regardless  of  the  Senate's  attitude.  The 
case  is  a  signal  instance  of  the  substitution  of 
executive  arrangements  for  treaty  engagements 
which  has  since  then  been  such  a  marked  tendency 
in  the  conduct  of  the  foreign  relations  of  the 
United  States. 

A  consideration  which  worked  steadily  against 
the  Senate  in  its  attacks  upon  the  President  was 
the  prevalent  belief  that  the  Tenure  of  OflSce  Act 
was  unconstitutional  in  its  nature  and  mischievous 
in  its  effects.  Although  Senator  Edmunds  had  been 
able  to  obtain  a  show  of  solid  party  support,  it 
eventually  became  known  that  he  stood  almost 
alone  in  the  Judiciary  Committee  in  his  approval 
of  that  act.  The  case  is  an  instructive  revelation 
of  the  arbitrary  power  conferred  by  the  committee 
system.  Members  are  loath  to  antagonize  a  party 
chairman  to  whom  ^eir  own  bi'is  must  go  for 
approval.    Finally  b      lor  Hoar  dared  to  take  the 


h 
1- 


■f- 


1: 

i; 


i^i 


n.'  i 


90  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

risk  and  with  such  success  that,  on  June  21,  1886, 
the  committee  reported  a  bill  for  the  complete  re- 
peal of  the  Tenure  of  Office  Act.  the  chairman  — 
Senator  Edmunds  —  alone  dissenting.    When  the 
bill  was  taken  up  for  consideration,  Senator  Hoar 
remarked  that  he  did  not  believe  there  were  five 
members  of  the  Senate  who  really  believed  in  the 
propriety  of  that  act.    "  It  did  not  seem  to  me  to  be 
quite  becoming,'  he  explained,  "  to  ask  the  Senate 
to  deal  with  this  general  question,  while  the  question 
which  arose  between  the  President  and  the  Senate 
as  to  the  interpretation  and  administration  of  the 
existing  law  was  pending.    I  thought  as  a  party 
man  that  I  had  hardly  the  right  to  interfere  with 
the  matter  which  was  under  the  special  charge  of 
my  honorable  friend  from  Vermont,  by  challenging 
a  debate  upon  the  general  subject  from  a  diflFerent 
point  of  view." 

Although  delicately  put,  this  statement  was  in 
effect  a  repudiation  of  the  party  leadership  of 
Edmunds  and  in  the  debate  which  ensued  not  a 
single  Senator  came  to  his  support.  He  stood  alone 
in  upholding  the  propriety  of  the  Tenure  of  Office 
Act,  arguing  that  without  its  restraint  "the  whole 
real  power  and  patronage  of  this  government  was 
vested  solely  in  the  hands  of  a  President  of  the 


m' 


A  CONSTn      'ONAL  CRISIS  81 

United  States  and  his  will  was  the  law."  lie  held 
that  the  consent  of  the  Senate  to  appointments 
was  an  insufficient  check  if  the  President  were 
allowed  to  remove  at  his  own  will  and  pleasure. 
He  was  answered  by  his  own  party  colleagues  and 
committee  associates.  Hoar  and  Evarts.  Senator 
Hoar  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  in  his  opinion  there 
was  not  a  single  person  in  this  country,  in  Congress 
or  out  of  Congress,  with  the  exception  of  the  Sena- 
tor from  Vermont,  who  did  not  believe  that  a 
necessary  step  towards  reform  "must  be  to  impose 
the  responsibility  of  the  Civil  Service  upon  the 
Executive."  Senator  Evarts  argued  that  the 
existing  law  was  incompatible  with  executive  re- 
sponsibility, for  "it  placed  the  Executive  power 
in  a  strait-jacket.'*  He  then  pointed  out  that 
tl  "  President  had  not  the  legal  right  to  remove 
a  member  of  his  own  Cabinet  and  asked,  "Is 
not  the  President  imprisoned  if  his  Cabinet  are 
to  be  his  masters  by  the  will  of  the  Senate?" 
The  debate  was  almost  wholly  confined  to  the  Re- 
publican side  of  the  Senate,  for  only  one  Demo- 
crat took  any  part  :~i  it.  Senator  Edmunds  was 
the  sole  spo*  ^man  on  his  side,  but  he  fought  hard 
against  defeat  and  delivered  several  elaborate  argu- 
ments of  the  "check  and  balance"  type.    When 


'ill* 

} 

m 


f 


f  ■;» 


in 
r  r 


ti 

i 


^j 


'i 


li 


t  -i 


Se  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

the  final  vote  took  place,  only  three  Republicans 
actually  voted  for  the  repealinK  bill,  but  there 
were  absentees  whose  votes  would  have  been  cast 
the  same  way  had  they  been  needed  to  pass 
the  bill.' 

President  Cleveland  had  achieved  a  brilliant  vic- 
tory. In  the  joust  between  him  and  Ednmnds 
in  lists  of  his  adversary's  own  contriving,  he  had 
held  victoriously  to  his  course  while  his  opponent 
had  been  unhorsed.  The  granite  composure  of 
Senator  Edmunds'  habitual  mien  did  not  permit 
any  sign  of  disturbance  to  break  through,  but  his 
position  in  the  Senate  was  never  again  what  it  had 
been,  and  eventually  he  resigned  his  seat  before  the 
expiration  of  his  term.  He  retired  from  public  life 
in  1891  at  the  age  of  sixty-three. 

From  the  standpoint  of  the  public  welfare  it  is 
to  be  noted  that  the  issue  turned  on  the  mainte- 
nance of  privilege  rather  than  on  the  discharge 
of  responsibility.  President  Cleveland  contended 
that  he  was  not  responsible  to  the  Senate  but  to 
the  people  for  the  way  in  which  he  exercised  his 
trusteeship.     But  the  phrase  "the  people"  is  an 

■  The  bill  was  passed  by  thirty  yeas  and  twenty-two  nays,  and 
among  the  nays  were  several  Senat)rs  who  while  members  of  the  House 
had  voted  for  repeal.  The  repeal  bill  passed  the  House  by  a  vote  of 
172  to  67,  and  became  law  on  March  S,  1887. 


I 


.?".. 


f 


l.-l 


BENJAMIN  B4XRISON 
HhotoKraph  ia  tlw ooUetttoB of  L.  ('.  Uuiiy.  WuUactoo. 


t     ".-I 


f 


! 


■  ii'il:  III    ]  //    vl..iill      II-... 


\i 


I   i 


>'■•  i 


0 


I'y 


'fr 


I 


rii 


..  CONSITTUTIONAL  CRISIS  H.1 

abstraction  which  has  no  force  «ave  m  it  reccivca 
concrete  form  in  appropriate  in^titutionM.    It  is  the 
e.ssi>ntial  characteri.stif  <>f  a  ^4oun(l  consititutional 
system  that  it  supplies  such  institutions  m  as  \u 
put  executive  authority  on  its  good  U-havior  by 
»tea<ly    pressure    of    responsibility    through    full 
publicity  and  detailed  criticism.    This  result  the 
Senate  fails    to  sreure.   bitause   it  keeps   trying 
to  invade  executive   .luthority  and  to  seize  the 
apiwinting  power,  instead  of  seeking  to  enforce 
extvutive  resi»onsibilily.    This  jwint  was  forcibly 
put  by  The  Nation  when  it  said:  "There  is  only 
one  way  of  securing  the  presentation  to  the  Senate 
of  all  the  papers  and  documents  which  influence 
the  l*resident  in  making  either  removals  or  ap- 
pointments, and  that  is  a  simple  way,  and  one 
wholly  within  the  reach  of  the  Senators.     They 
have  only  to  alter  their  rules,  and  make  executive 
sessions  as  public  as  legislative  sessions,  in  order 
to  drive  ;'ie  President  not  only  into  making  no 
nominations  for  which  he  cannot  give  creditable 
reasons,  but  into  furnishing  every  creditable  rea- 
son for  the  nomination  which  he  may  have  in 
his  possession."' 

During  the  struggle  an  effort  was  made  to  bring 

•  The  \aUon.  March  11.  18S6. 


f 


h  I 


i'  i 


84  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

about  this  very  reform,  under  the  lead  of  a  Re- 
publican Senator,  Orville  H.  Piatt  of  Connecticut. 
On  April  13, 1886,  he  delivered  a  carefully  prepared 
speech,  based  upon  much  research,  in  which  he 
showed  that  the  rule  of  secrecy  in  executive  sessions 
could  not  claim  the  sanction  of  the  founders  of  the 
government.  It  is  true  that  the  Senate  originally 
sat  with  closed  doors  for  all  sorts  of  business,  but  it 
discontinued  the  practice  after  a  few  years.  It 
was  not  until  1800,  six  years  after  the  practice  of 
public  sessions  had  been  adopted,  that  any  rule  of 
secrecy  was  applied  to  business  transacted  in  execu- 
tive sessions.  Senator  Piatt's  motion  to  repeal  this 
rule  met  with  determined  opposition  on  both  sides 
of  the  chamber,  coupled  with  an  indisposition  to 
discuss  the  matter.  When  it  came  up  for  consid- 
eration on  the  15th  of  December,  Senator  Hoar 
moved  to  lay  it  on  the  table,  which  was  done  by  a 
vote  of  thirty-three  to  twenty-one.  Such  promi- 
nent Democratic  leaders  as  Gorman  of  Maryland 
and  Vest  of  Missouri  voted  with  Republican 
leaders  like  Evarts,  Edmunds,  Allison,  and  Harri- 
son, in  favor  of  Hoar's  motion,  while  Hoar's  own 
colleague.  Senator  Df  acs,  together  with  such  emi- 
nent Republicans  as  Frye  of  Maine,  Hawley  of 
Connecticut,  and  Sherman  of  Ohio  voted  with 


'  ! 


A  CONSTITUTIONAL  CRISIS  85 

Piatt.  Thus  any  party  responsibility  for  the  re- 
sult was  successfully  avoided,  and  an  issue  of  great 
constitutional  importance  was  laid  away  without 
any  apparent  stir  of  popular  sentiment. 


ri 


CHAPTER  V 


I 


li'i 


PARTY  POLICY  IN  CONGRESS 

While  President  Cleveland  was  successfully  as- 
serting his  executive  authority,  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, too,  was  tryinir  to  assert  its  authority, 
but  its  choice  of  means  was  such  that  it  was  badly 
beaten  and  wr  educed  to  a  state  of  humble  subor- 
dination from  which  it  has  never  emerged.  Its 
traditional  procedure  was  arranged  on  the  theory 
that  Congress  ought  to  propose  as  well  as  to  enact 
legislation,  and  to  receive  recommendations  from 
all  quarters  without  preference  or  discrimination. 
Although  the  Constitution  makes  it  the  right  and 
duty  of  the  President  to  "recommend  to  their  con- 
sideration such  measures  as  he  shall  judge  neces- 
sary and  expedient,"  measures  proposed  by  the 
Administration  stand  on  the  same  footing  under 
the  rules  as  those  proposed  by  the  humblest  citizen 
of  the  United  States.  In  both  cases  they  are  al- 
lowed to  reach  Congress  only  in  the  form  of  a  bill  or 

86 


!,!'ii 

";»! 


PARTY  POLICY  IN  CONGRESS  87 

resolution  introduced  by  a  member  of  Congress, 
and  they  go  on  the  files  without  any  distinction  as 
to  rank  and  position  except  such  as  pertains  to 
Iheni  from  the  time  and  order  in  which  they  are 
introduced.    Under  the  rules  all  measures  are  dis- 
tributed among  numerous  committees,  each  having 
charge  of  a  particular  class,  with  power  to  report 
favorably  or  adversely.     Each  committee  is  con- 
stituted as  a  section  of  the  whole  House,  with  a 
distribution  of  party  representation  corresponding 
to  that  which  exists  in  the  House. 

Viewed  as  an  ideal  polity  the  scheme  has  attrac- 
tive features.    In  practice,  however,  it  is  attended 
witli  great  disadvantages.    Although  the  system 
was  originally  introduced  with  the  idea  that  it 
would  give  the  House  of  Representatives  control 
over  legislative  business,  the  actual  result  has  been 
to  reduce  this  body  to  an  impotence  unparal- 
leled among  national  representative  assemblies  in 
countries  having  constitutional  government.    In  a 
spe..Ox  delivered  on  December  10,  1885,  William 
M.  Springer  of  Illinois  complained:  "We  find  our- 
selves bound  hand  and  foot,  the  majority  deliver- 
ing themselves  over  to  the  power  of  the  minority 
that  might  oppose  any  particular  measures,  so  that 
nothing  could  be  done  in  the  way  of  legislation 


'1 


i^' 


88  THE  CLEV-EL^ND  ERA 

except  by  unanimous  consent  or  by  a  two-thirds 
vote."    As  an  instance  of  legislative  paralysis  he 
related  that  "during  the  last  Congress  a  very  im- 
portant bill,  that  providing  for  the  presidential 
succession  .  .  .  was  reported  from  a  committee  of 
which  I  had  the  honor  to  be  a  member,  and  was 
placed  on  the  calendar  of  the  House  on  the  21st 
day  of  April,  1884 ;  and  that  bill,  which  was  favored 
by  nearly  the  entire  House,  was  permitted  to  die 
on  the  calendar,  because  there  never  was  a  moment 
when  under  the  rules  as  they  then  existed,  the  bill 
could  be  reached  and  passed  by  the  House." 
During  the  whole  of  that  session  of  Congress  the 
regular  calendar  was  never  reached.    "Owing  to 
the  fact  that  we  could  not  transact  business  under 
the  rules,  all  business  was  done  under  unanimous 
consent  or  under  propositions  to  suspend  the  rules 
upon  the  two  Mondays  in  each  month  on  which 
suspensions  were  allowed. "    As  a  two-thirds  ma- 
jority was  necessary  to  suspend  the  rules,  any 
considerable  minority  had  a  veto  power. 

The  standing  committees  whose  ostensible  pur- 
pose was  to  prepare  business  for  consideration  were 
characterized  as  legislative  cemeteries.  Charles  B. 
Lore  of  Delaware,  referring  to  the  situation  dur- 
ing the  previous  session,  said:    "The  committees 


ri 


PARTY  POLICY  IN  CONGRESS  89 

were  formed,  they  met  in  their  respective  com- 
mittee rooms  day  after  day,  week  after  week, 
working  up  the  business  which  was  committed  to 
them  by  this  House,  and  they  reported  to  this 
House  8290  bills.    'J'hey  came  from  the  respective 
committees,  and  they  were  consigned  to  the  calen- 
dars of  this  House,  which  became  for  them  the 
tomb  of  the  Capulets;  most  of  them  were  never 
heard  of  afterward.    From  the  Senate  there  were 
2700  bills.  .  .  .     Nine  tenths  of  the  time  of  the 
committees   of   the   Forty-eighth    Congress    was 
wasted.     We  met  week  after  week,  month  after 
month,  and  labored  over  the  cases  prepared,  and 
reported  bills  to  the  House.    They  were  put  upon 
the  calendars  and  there  wei    '  -'  •  >fi  to  be  brought 
in  again  and  again  in  f;uccceding  v    ngresses." 

William  D.  Kelley  of  Pennsylvania  bluntly  de- 
clared: "No  legislation  can  be  effectually  origin- 
ated outside  the  Committee  on  Appropriations, 
unless  it  be  a  bill  which  will  command  unanimous 
consent  or  a  stray  bill  that  may  get  a  two-thirds 
vote,  or  a  pension  bill."  He  explained  that  he 
excepted  pension  bills  "because  we  have  for  sev- 
eral years  by  special  order  remitted  the  whole 
subject  of  pensions  to  a  committee  who  bring  in 
'.eir  bills  at  sessions  held  one  night  in  each  week. 


hH 


I  I 


I'. 


\  '3 


^^^ 


?J- 


eo  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

when  ten  or  fifteen  gentlemen  decide  what  sohliers 
may  have  pensions  and  what  soldiers  may  not." 

The  Democratic  party  found  this  situation  ex- 
tremely irritating  when  it  came  into  power  in  the 
House.    It  was  unable  to  do  anything  of  impo  - 
tance  or  even  to  define  its  own  party  policy,  and  in 
the  session  of  Congress  beginning  in  December, 
1885,  it  sought  to  correct  the  situation  by  amend- 
ing the  rules.   In  this  undertaking  it  had  symj)alhy 
and  support  on  the  Republican  side.    The  duress 
under  which  the  House  labored  was  pungent ly  de- 
scribed by  Thomas  B.  Reed,  who  was  just  about 
that  time  revealing  the  ability  that  gained  for  him 
the  Republican  leadership.    In  a  speech  delivered 
on  December  16,  188.3,  he  declared:  "For  the  last 
three  Congresses  the  representatives  of  tlie  people 
of  the  United  States  have  been  in  irons.    They  have 
been  allowed  to  transact  no  public  business  except 
at  the  dictation  and  by  the  permission  of  a  small 
coterie  of  gentlemen  who,  while  they  possessed  in- 
dividually more  wisdom  than  any  of  the  rest  of  us, 
did  not  possess  all  the  wisdom  in  the  world. " 

The  coterie  alluded  to  by  Mr.  Reed  was  that 
which  controlled  the  commi**"e  on  appropriations. 
Under  the  system  created  by  the  rules  of  the  House 
bills  pour  in  by  tens  of  thousands.     A  member  of 


.  i| 


V  tl 


PARTY  WLICY  IN  CONGRESS  9i 

the  House  of  a  statistical  turn  of  mind  once  sul)- 
mitted  figures  to  the  House  showing  that  it  wouhl 
take  over  sixty-six  years  to  go  through  the  calen- 
dars of  one  session  in  regular  order,  allowing  an 
average  of  one  minute  for  each  member  to  <lehate 
each  bill.    To  get  anything  done  the  House  must 
proceed  by  special  order,  and  as  it  is  essential  to 
pass  the  appropriations  to  keep  up  thego\ernment, 
a   precedence  was  allowed   to   business  report<>d 
by  that  committee  which  in  effect  gave  it  a  posi- 
tion of  mastery.    ().  R.  Singleton  of  xMississifipi,  in 
the  course  of  the  same  debate,  declared  that  there 
was  a  "grievance  which  towtrs  above  all  others    s 
the  Alps  tower  above  the  surrounding  hills.    It  is 
the  power  resting  with  said  committee,  and  often- 
times employed  by  it,  to  arrest  any  legislation 
upon  any  subject  which  does  not  meet  its  approval. 
A  motion  to  go  into  committee  of  the  whole  to 
consider  appropriation  bills  is  always  in  order,  and 
takes  precedence  of  all  other  motions  as  to  the 
order  of  business. " 

'J1ie  practical  effect  of  the  rules  was  that,  instead 
of  remaining  the  servant  of  the  House,  the  com- 
mittee became  its  master.  Not  only  could  the 
committee  shut  off  from  any  consideration  any 
measure  to  which  it  was  opposed  but  it  could  also 


1, 


f. 


I 


v  '*! 


W  THE  CLEVELWD  ERA 

dictate  to  the  House  the  shape  in  which  its  own 
bais  should  be  enacted.     While  the  form  of  full 
consifjf-ation  and  amendment  is  preserved,  the 
of  a  bill  are  really  decided  by  a  conference 
ov^aimittee  appointed  to  adjust  differences  between 
the  House  and  the  Senate.    John  H.  Reagan  of 
Texas  stated  that  "a  conference  committee,  made 
up  of  three  members  of  the  appropriations  com- 
mittee, acting  in  conjunction  with  a  similar  con- 
ference committee  on  the  part  of  the  Senate,  does 
substantially  our  legislation  upon  this  subject  of 
appropriations."    In  theory  the  House  was  free 
to  accept  or  reject  the  conference  committee's 
report.    Practically  the  choice  lay  between  the  bill 
as  fixed  by  the  conference  committee  or  no  bill  at 
all  during  that  session.     Mr.  Reagan  stated  the 
case  exactly  when  he  said  that  it  meant  "letting 
six  men  settle  what  the  terms  are  to  be,  beyond  our 
power  of  control,  unless  we  consent  to  a  called 
session  of  Congress. " 

To  deal  with  this  situation  the  House  had  refused 
to  adopt  the  rules  of  the  preceding  Congress,  and 
after  electing  John  G.  Carlisle  as  Speaker  and  au- 
thorizing the  appointment  of  a  committee  on  rules, 
it  deferred  the  appointment  of  the  usual  legislative 
committees  until  after  a  new  set  of  rules  had  been 


PARTY  POLICY  IN  CONGRESS  03 

adopted.  The  action  of  the  Speaker  in  constitut- 
ing the  Rules  Committee  was  scrupulously  fair  to 
the  contending  interests.  It  consisted  of  himself, 
Samuel  J.  Randall  of  Pennsylvania,  and  William 
R.  Morrison  of  Illinois  from  the  Democratic  side 
of  the  House,  and  of  'I'homas  B.  Reed  of  Maine  and 
Frank  Hiscock  of  New  York  from  the  Republican 
side.  On  the  14th  of  December  the  committee 
made  two  reports:  a  majority  report  presented  by 
Mr.  Morrison  and  a  minority  report  presented  by 
Mr.  Randall  and  signed  by  him  alone. 

These  reports  and  the  debates  which  followed 
are  most  disappointing.    What  was  needed  was  a 
penetrating  discussion  of  the  means  by  which  the 
House  could  establish  its  authority  and  perform  its 
constitutional  functions.    But  it  is  a  remarkable 
circumstance  that  at  no  time  was  any  reference 
made  to  the  only  way  in  which  the  House  can  re- 
gain freedom  of  action  —  namely,  by  having  the 
Administration  submit  its  budget  demands  and  its 
legislative  proposals  directly  to  the  committee  of 
the  whole  House.     The  preparatory  stages  could 
then  be  completed  before  the  opening  of  the  legis- 
lative  session.     Congress   would   thus  save  the 
months  of  time  that  are  now  consumed  in  com- 
mittee incubation  and  would  almost  certainly  be 


|: 


/[ 


94  THE  CLEVEL\ND  ERA 

assured  of  opportunity  of  considering  the  public 
business.     Discrimination  in  legislative  privilege 
among  members  of  the  IIoJi.se  would  then  hv  abol- 
ishcfl,  for  every  member  would  belong  fo  tlie  com- 
niiHee  on  appropriations.     Il  Is  universally  Irue 
ineonslilutional  governments  tluit  power  over  ap- 
propriations involves  power  over  legislation,  and 
the  onl.'  possibility  of  a  square  deal  is  to  open  (hat 
power  to  the  entire  membership  of  the  assembly, 
whieh  is  the  rejjular  practice  in  Switzerland  i<tw|  in 
all  English  commonwealths.   The  Hous,  could  not 
have  been  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  this  alter- 
native, for  the  whole  subject  had  been  luminously 
discussed  in  the  Senate  Report  of  February  4,  ISHI . 
It  was  therein  clearly  pointed  out  that  such  an 
arrangement  would  prevent  paralysis  or  inaction  in 
Congress.    With  the  Administration  proposing  its 
measur-s  directly  to  Congres.s,  discussion  of  them 
and  decisions  upon  them  could  not  be  avoided. 

But  such  a  public  forum  could  not  be  established 
without  sweeping  away  many  intrenchmenfs  of 
factional  interest  and  private  opportunity,  and 
this  was  not  at  all  the  purpose  of  the  committee  on 
rules.  It  took  its  character  and  direction  from  an 
old  feud  between  Morrison  and  Randall.  Morrison, 
as  chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee  in 


I 


PARTY  POLICY  IN  CONC.RKSS  95 

187(5.  had  roportrd  n  tariff  reform  incasure  whkh 
was  dt'feat«'<l  l»y  RaiHlall's  influence,    'i'lun  Han- 
dall  who  had  succeeded  to  the  Sfieakc  rshi(),  trans- 
ferred Morrison  from  thechairnumshjp.jf  i|„.  Wj,y.s 
and  Means  Coniniitlee  to  the  ehairmanship  of  the 
coniniitfee  on  puhhe  hmds.     Hut  Morrison  was  a 
man  who  would  not  submit  to  defeat .     Fie  was  a 
veteran  of  the  Civil  'Var.  and  had  heen  severely 
wounded  in  leading  his  rtgimenl  at  I'orl  Donelsi.n. 
After  the  war  he  figured  in  Ilhnois  pohlies  an<! 
served  as  Speaker  of  the  State  Legislature.     He 
entered  Congress  i.i  J87M  and  devoled  himself  to 
the  study  of  the  tariff  with  such  intelligence  and 
thoroughness  that  his  speeches  are  still  an  indi.s- 
pensahle  i)art  of  the  history  of  tariff  legislation. 
His  !ud)itual  manuj-r  was  so  mihl  and  iinas.suming 
that  it  gave  little  indication  of  the  force  of  his  per- 
sonality, which  was  full  of  energy  and  perseverance. 
Randall  was  more  imperious  in  his  mien.     }]v 
was  a  party  leader  of  established  renown  which  he 
had  gained  in  the  struggles  over  force  bills  at  the 
close  of  tlie  reconstruction  period.    His  position  on 
the  taritt"  was  that  of  a  Pennsylvania  protectionist, 
and  upon  the  tariff  reform  issue  in  1S8.S  he  was 
defeated  for  the  Speakership.    At  that  time  John 
G.  Carlisle  of  Kentucky  was  raised  to  that  post. 


Si";*! 

I 

t 


K 


': 


no  TIIK  CLEVELAND  ERA 

whilf  Morrison  uffn'm  bwnnic  chuirnmn  of  the 
Wuys  uiul  ilcHn.H  ConiniitttT  But  Randall,  now 
appointed  cluiirnian  of  tht;  Appropriations  Cotix- 
niitttT,  had  so  ^roat  an  influence  that  he  was  able 
to  turn  about  forty  Demoeral '  votes  against  the 
tariff  bill  reported  by  the  Ways  and  Means  Com- 
mittee, thus  enablini?  the  Republicans  to  kill  the 
bill  by  striking  out  I  he  enacting  clause. 

Only  this  practical  aim  tln'ii  was  in  view  in  the 
reports  presented  by  the  committee  on  rules. 
The  principal  feature  of  the  majority  report  was  a 
proi)osal  to  curtail  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Appropri- 
ations Committee  by  transferring  to  other  com- 
mittees five  of  the  eleven  regular  appropriation 
bills.  What  from  the  constitutional  point  of  view 
would  appear  to  be  the  main  question  —  the  re- 
covery by  the  House  of  its  freedom  of  action  — 
'.'as  haiill-'  noticed  in  the  report  or  in  the  debates 
which  followed.  Heretofore  the  rules  ha  J  allotted 
certain  periods  to  general  business;  now  the  ma- 
jority report  somewhat  enlarged  these  periods  and 
stipulated  that  no  committee  should  bring  more 
than  one  proposal  l)efore  the  House  until  all  other 
committees  had  had  their  turn.  This  provision 
might  have  been  somewhat  more  effective  had  it 
been  accompanied  by  a  revision  of  the  Ust  of 


lu   i  . 


PARTY  POLICY  IN  CONGRESS  07 

committees  such  as  was  proimsed  l)y  William  M. 
Springer.    He  pointed  out  that  there  were  a  runn- 
ber  of  committees  "that  have  no  business  to  trans- 
act or  business  so  trifling;  and  uninjportant  iis  to 
make  it  unnecessary  to  have  standinj^  «oininit- 
tees  upon  such  subjects";  he  projwsed  to  abolish 
fwenty-one  of  these  committees  aiid  to  create  four 
new  ones  to  take  their  phice:  he  showed  that  "if 
we  allow  these  twenty  useless  committees  to  be 
again  put  on  our  list,  to  be  called  regularly  in  the 
morning  hour  .  .  .  forty-two  days  will  be  con- 
sumed in  calling  these  committees";  and,  finally, 
he  pointed  out  that  the  clmnge  would  effect  a 
saving  since   it    would   "do   away   with    sixteen 
committee  clerkships." 

This  saving  was,  in  fact,  fatal  to  the  success  of 
Springer's  proposal,  since  it  meant  the  extinction 
of  so  many  sinecures  bestowed  through  congres- 
sional favor.  In  the  end  Springer  reduced  his  pro- 
posed change  to  the  creation  of  one  general  com- 
mittee on  public  expenditures  to  take  the  i)lace  c' 
eight  committees  on  departmental  expenditures. 
It  was  notorious  that  such  committe<\s  did  nothing 
and  could  do  nothing,  anfl  their  futility,  save  as 
dispensers  of  patronage,  had  been  denionstrat(^ 
in  a  startling  manner  by  the  effect  of  the  Acts  of 


f. 

in 


1   ij 


1j 


■ 


K 


98  THE  CLE\T.LAND  ERA 

July  12,  1870,  and  June  20,  1874,  requiring  all  un- 
used appropriations  to  be  paid  into  the  Treasury. 
The  amounts  thus  turned  into  the  Treasury  aggre- 
gated $174,000,000  and  in  a  single  bum;;  i  there 
was  an  unexpended  balance  of  $.S6,00t  ,000,  whicii 
had  accunmlaled  for  a  quarter  of  a  ceni  iry  because 
Congress  had  not  been  advised  that  no  appiujiiio- 
tion  was  needed.  Mr.  Springer  remarked  that, 
during  the  ten  years  in  which  he  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  Congress,  he  had  observed  with  regard  to 
these  committees  "that  in  nearly  all  cases,  after 
their  appointment,  organization,  and  the  election 
of  a  clerk,  the  committee  practically  ceased  to 
exist,  and  nothing  further  is  done."  William  R. 
IMorrison  at  once  came  to  the  rescue  of  the  endan- 
gered sinecures  and  argued  that  even  although 
these  committees  had  been  inactive  in  the  past 
they  "constituted  the  eyes,  the  ears,  and  the  hands 
of  the  House. "  In  consequence,  after  a  short  de- 
bate Mr.  Springer's  motion  was  rejected  without 
a  division. 

The  arrangements  subsequently  made  to  pro- 
vide time  and  opportunity  for  general  legislation 
turned  out  in  practice  to  be  quite  futile  and  indeed 
they  were  never  more  than  a  mere  formal  pretense. 
It  was  (juite  obvious  therefore  that  the  new  rules 


PARTY  POLICY  IN  CONGRESS  99 

tended  only  to  make  the  situation  worse  than  be- 
fore. Thomas  Ryan  of  Kansas  told  the  plain 
Irutli  when  he  said:  "You  do  not  propose  to 
remedy  any  of  those  things  of  which  you  complain 
by  any  of  the  rules  you  have  brought  forward. 
You  propose  to  clothe  eight  committees  with  the 
same  power,  with  the  same  temptation  and  capac- 
ity to  abuse  it.  You  multiply  eightfohl  the  very 
evils  of  which  you  complain.  *'  James  H.  Blount  of 
Georgia  sought  to  nu'tigate  the  evils  of  the  situa- 
tion by  giving  a  number  of  other  connnittees  the 
same  privilege  as  the  appropriation  committees, 
but  this  proposal  at  once  raised  a  storm,  for  appro- 
priation committees  had  leave  to  rejmrt  at  any 
time,  and  to  extend  the  privilege  would  prevent 
expeditious  handling  of  appropriation  bills,  INIr. 
Bloimt's  motion  was  therefore  voted  down  without 
a  division. 

While  in  the  debate  the  pretense  of  facilitating 
routine  business  was  ordinarily  kept  up,  occasional 
intimations  of  actual  ulterior  purjwsc  leaked  out, 
as  when  John  B.  Storm  of  Pennsylvania  remarked 
that  it  was  a  valuable  feature  of  the  rules  that  they 
did  hamper  action  and  "that  the  country  which  is 
least  governed  is  the  best  governed,  is  a  maxim  in 
strict  accord  with  the  idea  of  true  civil  liberty." 


'J 


m 


i 


: 


i 


100 


THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 


William  McKinley  was  also  of  the  opinion  that 
barriers  were  needed  "agains*  the  wild  projects  and 
visionary  schemes  which  will  find  advocates  in  this 
House. "  Some  years  later,  when  the  subject  was 
agair  up  for  discussion,  Thomas  B.  Reed  went  to 
the  heart  of  the  situation  when  he  declared  that  the 
rules  had  been  devised  not  to  facilitate  action  but 
to  obstruct  it,  for  "the  whole  system  of  business 
here  for  years  has  been  to  seek  methods  of  shirking, 
not  of  meeting,  the  questions  which  the  people 
present  for  the  consideration  of  their  representa- 
tives. Peculiar  circumstances  have  caused  this. 
For  a  long  time  one  section  of  the  country  largely 
dominated  the  other.  That  section  of  the  country 
was  constantly  apprehensive  of  danger  which 
might  happen  at  any  time  by  reason  of  an  institu- 
tion it  was  maintaining.  Very  naturally  all  the 
rules  of  the  House  were  bent  fc  '  obstruction  of 
action  on  the  part  of  Congress.  lay  be  added 

that  these  observations  apply  e.en  more  forcibly 
to  the  rules  of  the  Senate.  The  privilege  of  un- 
restricted debate  /as  not  originally  granted  by 
those  rules  but  was  introduced  as  a  means  of 
strengthening  the  power  of  sectional  resistance  to 
obnoxious  legislation. 

The  revision  of  the  rules  in  IHbo,  then,  was  not 


1j! 


.J 
r* 


*       i 


WllUAH  MCKINLEY 

P»»oU»»f^,riB  tbe  ooOwtion  ««  L.  C.  Budy.  Wtefaiogton 


>] 


r    I: 


I'  f 


flu 


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'Us 


!;' 


:| 


lii   i* 


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!.\  '1/  \/V  .\/     M  t  \.\AV  tl 

.•■,Im1!.:'(    (V    .J>.,1.|(         .        1     .,,     |,,,|,.,U.. ,    ,■,  V|„,M„i,„/( 


1 1 


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V.  I 


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'II 


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i 


^ 


N' 


PARTY  POLICY  IN  CONGRESS  101 

designed  really  to  facilitate  action  by  the  House, 
but  rather  to  effect  a  transfer  of  the  power  to  rule 
the  House.  It  was  at  least  clear  that  tinder  the 
proposed  changes  the  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  appropriations  would  no  longer  retain  such  com- 
plete mastery  as  Randall  had  wielded,  and  this 
was  enough  to  insure  the  adoption  of  the  majority 
report.  The  minority  report  opposed  this  weaken- 
ing of  control  on  the  ground  that  it  would  he  de- 
structive of  orderly  and  responsible  management  of 
the  public  funds.  Flverything  whirh  Randall  said 
on  that  point  has  since  been  amply  confirmed  by 
much  sad  experience.  Although  some  ading  Re- 
publicans, among  whom  was  Joseph  G.  ^.'annon  of 
Illinois,  argued  strongly  in  support  of  Randall's 
views,  the  temper  of  the  House  was  such  that  the 
majority  in  favor  of  the  change  was  overwhelming, 
and  on  December  18,  1885,  the  Morrison  plan  was 
finally  adopted  without  a  roll  call. 

The  hope  that  the  change  in  organization  would 
expedite  action  on  appropriation  bills  was  promptly 
disappointed.  Only  one  of  the  fourteen  regular  ap- 
propriation bills  became  law  before  the  last  day  of 
the  fiscal  year.  The  duress  to  which  the  House  was 
subject  became  tighter  and  harder  than  before, 
and  the  Speakership  entered  upon  a  development 


m 


10«  THE  CLRVTJAND  ERA 

unparallt'l.d  in  constitutional  liislory.  The  Speaker 
was  practically  in  a  position  to  determine  what 
business  the  IIous,.  might  consider  and  what  it 
nn'ffht  not,  and  the  circumstances  were  such  as  to 
breed  a  hehc    that  il  was  his  ,iufy  to  use  his  discre- 
tion where  a  choice  presented  itself.     It  is  obvious 
that,  when  on  the  floor  of  the  House  there  are  a 
number  of  applicants  for  recognition,     .e  Speaker 
must  choose  between  them.    All  can.io     .e  allowed 
to  speak  at  once.    There  is  no  chance  to  apply  the 
shop  rule,  "first  come  first  served,"  for  numerous 
applications  for  the  floor  come  at  the  same  time. 
Shall  the  Speaker  c  at  random  or  according 

to  some  definite  principle  of  selection.*  In  view  of 
the  Speaker's  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  party 
which  raised  him  to  the  oflSce,  he  would  naturally 
inquire  in  advance  the  purpose  for  which  the 
recognition  of  the  chair  was  desired.  It  was  a 
manifest  step  towards  orderly  procedure  in  session, 
however,  when  instead  of  crowding  around  the 
clerk's  desk  bawling  for  recognition,  members 
applied  to  the  Speaker  in  advance,  ^u  Speaker 
Blaine's  time  this  had  become  a  regular  practice, 
and  ever  since  then  a  throng  of  members  at  the 
Speaker's  office  trying  to  arrange  with  him  for 
recognition  has  been  a  daily  occurrence  during  a 


PARTY  POIJCY  TV  CONCRESS  103 

legislativf  session.  Saimu'I  VV.  McCall,  in  his  work 
on  Tlie  BuKincHH  of  Congremi,  says  that  the  Sju-akfr 
•'usnally  scrutinizivs  the  i)ill  aiul  Ww  coninj  it  tee's 
report  uikjii  it,  and  in  case  of  (ionhi  he  sometinuvs 
refers  Iheni  to  a  inetnher  in  whom  lie  li.is  ednfi- 
dene«'.  for  a  more  <areful  e.xaminalion  than  lie 
hinisi'jf  has  lime  '.o  ^'ive.  " 

I'luler  Speaker   Carlisle    this   jmwer   to   censor 
proposals  was  made  conspicuous  through  the  fac- 
tional war  in  the  Democratic  party.     For  several 
sessions  of  Congress  a  bill  had  heen  pending  to 
repeal  the  internal  revenue  taxes  upon  tobacco, 
and  it  had  such  support  that  it  might  have  passed 
if  it  could  have  been  reached  for  consideration. 
On  February  5,  1887,  a  letter  was  addressed  to 
Speaker  Carlisle,  by  three  prominent  Democrats, 
Samuel  J.  Randall,  of  Pennsylvania,  George  D. 
Wise  of  \'irginia,  and  John  S.  Henderson  of  North 
Carolina,  saying:  "At  the  instance  of  many  Demo- 
cratic members  of  the  House,  we  appeal  to  you 
earnestly   to   recognize   on    Monday    next,   some 
Democrat  who  will  move  to  suspend  the  rules  for 
the  purpose  of  giving  the  House  an  opportunity  of 
considering  the  question  of  the  total  repeal  of  the 
internal  revenue  taxes  on  tobacco."     The  letter 
went  on  tp  argue  that  it  would  be  bad  policy  to  let 


■ii* 


if 


f 


u. 


'' 


I 


104  TIIE  CLEVEIAND  ER.V 

a  Republican  huve  credit  for  a  proi)o.suI,  which  it 
was  declared  "will  command  more  votes  than  any 
other  measure  iH«ndinK  before  the  House  looking 
towards  a  reduction  in  taxation;  and  favorable 
action  on  this  proposition  will  nol  interfere  with 
other  efforts  that  are  being  made  fo  reduce  the 
burden  of  the  people. " 

Speaker  Carlisle,  however,  refused  to  allow  the 
House  to  consider  the  matter,  on  the  ground  that 
negotiations  with  Randall  and  his  friends  for 
concerted  party  action  had  so  far  been  fruitless. 
"Among  other  things,"  he  wrote,  "we  proposed  to 
submit  the  entire  subject  to  a  caucus  of  our  politi- 
cal friends,  with  the  imderstanding  that  all  parties 
would  abide  by  the  result  of  its  action.  ...  We 
have  received  uo  response  to  that  communication, 
and  I  consider  that  it  would  not  be  proper  under 
the  circumstances,  for  me  to  agree  to  a  course  of 
action  which  would  present  to  the  House  a  simple 
proposition  for  th_^  repeal  of  the  internal  revenue 
tax  on  tobacco,  snuff  and  cigars,  to  the  exclusion 
of  all  other  measures  for  the  reduction  of  taxa- 
tion." The  letter  closed  by  "sincerely  hoping 
that  some  plan  may  yet  be  devised  which  will 
enable  the  House  to  consider  the  whole  subject  of 
revenue  reduction. " 


t  i 


i . 


PARTY  POLICY  IN  CONGRESS         105 

No  one  was  less  of  an  autocrat  in  temper  and 
habit  of  thought  than  Speaker  Carh*sle.  and  he  as- 
sumed this  position  in  deference  to  a  recognized 
function  of  his  office,  supported  by  a  long  line  of 
precedents.    The  ca  •'  was  therefore  a  signal  illus- 
tration of  the  way  in  which  the  House  has  impaired 
its  ability  to  consider  legislation  by  claiming  the 
exclusive  privilege  of  proposing  legislation.    If  the 
rules  had  allowed  the  President  to  propose  his  meas- 
ures directly  to  the  House,  then  the  way  would 
have  been  opened  for  a  substitute  or  an  amend- 
ment.   As  it  was,  the  House  was  able  to  act  only 
upon  matters  within  the  control  of  a  few  persons 
advantageously  posted,  and  none  of  the  changes 
of  rules  that  have  been  made  from  time  to  time 
have  seriously  dist'    bed  this  fundamental  situation. 
Notwithstandiii^  the  new  rules  adopted  in  De- 
cember, 1885,  nothing  of  importance  was  accom- 
plished by  the  House.    On  February  15,  1886, 
William  R.  Morrison  introduced  a  tariff  bill  making 
a  moderate  reduction  in  rates  of  duty,  which,  after 
considerable  amendment  in  the  committee  of  ways 
and  means,  was  reported  to  the  House  on  the  12th 
of  April,  but  no  further  action  was  taken  until  the 
17th  of  June,  when  Morrison  moved  that  the  House 
go  into  committee  of  the  whole  to  consider  the  bill. 


';< 


!• 


»H 


:'u 


1 

I 

i 


i.  M 


106  THE  a.EVELAND  ERA 

Thirly-five  Democruts  voted  with  the  Ropublicnn.s 
uguinst  tlic  motion,  which  was  defoatnl  by  157 
nuys  to  140  yens.  No  further  attempt  was  made 
to  take  up  (he  hill  during  that  sesNion  and  in  the 
v'nsuing  fall  Morrison  was  defeated  as  a  candidate 
for  reelection.  Before  leaving  Congress  he  tried 
once  more  to  obtain  consideration  of  his  bill  but  in 
vain.  Just  as  that  Congress  was  expiring,  John  S. 
Henderson  of  North  Carolina  was  at  last  allowed 
to  move  u  suspension  of  the  rules  in  order  to  take 
a  vole  on  u  bill  to  reduce  internal  revenue  taxes, 
but  he  failed  to  obtain  the  two-thirds  vote  required 
for  suspension  of  the  rules. 

That  the  proceedings  of  the  Fiftieth  Congress 
wen-  not  entirely  fruitless  was  mainly  <lue  to  the 
initiativi'  and  address  of  the  Senate.  Some  impor- 
tant measures  were  thus  pushed  through,  among 
them  the  act  regulating  tlie  presidential  succession 
and  the  act  creating  the  Interstate  Conunerce  Com- 
mission. The  first  of  th^^se  provided  for  the  succes- 
sion of  the  lit  ads  of  departments  in  turn,  in  ca.se  of 
the  removal,  death,  r'-signation.or  inability  of  both 
the  President  and  the  Vice-President. 

The  most  marked  legislative  achievement  of  the 
House  was  an  act  regulating  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  oleomargarine,  to  which  the  Senate  assented 


PARTY  VOUCY  IN  CONGRESS  107 

will:  sonioainnHlmfnl.  ami  whkh  was  si^,MH'«l  with 
reluctatur  l.y  thr  Pr«',>,i«U'nt.  after  a  s|H'«ial  nuNsafje 
to  tlio  IIouM-  sharply  criticizitiK  souw  of  tlir  pro- 
visions of  the  act.  A  hill  providing  for  arhifrii- 
tioti  of  (litTcrences  between  conunon  carriers  an«l 
llicir  employees  was  passed  l»y  the  Senalc  withont 
a  division,  hut  it  did  not  reach  the  I»resi<h'nl  un- 
til the  closing  «lays  of  the  session  and  failed  of  en- 
act inenl  because  he  <lid  not  sign  it  heftire  the  final 
adjournment.  Taken  as  a  whole,  tlu-n.  fhc  rec- 
ord of  the  Congress  elected  in  IHHl  showed  thai, 
whilethe  Democratic  party  had  the  Presidency  and 
the  Ilouseof  Representat  ives.the  Ilepul.lican  i)arty, 
although  defeated  al  the  polls,  still  c<mtrolled 
l)uhlic  policy  through  the  ag«'ncy  of  the  Senate. 


)    'i! 


-I  >; 


CHAPTER  VI 


PRESIDENTIAL   KNIGIIT-KURANTRY 


m 


Although  President  Cleveland  decisively  repelled 
the  Senate's  attempted  invasion  of  the  power  of  re- 
moval belonging  to  his  office,  he  was  still  left  in  a 
deplorable  state  of  servitude  through  the  operation 
of  old  laws  based  upon  the  principle  of  rotation  in 
office.  The  Acts  of  1820  and  1836  limiting  com- 
missions to  the  term  of  four  years,  forced  him  to 
make  numerous  appointments  which  provoked  con- 
troversy and  made  large  demands  upon  his  time 
and  thought.  In  the  first  year  of  his  administra- 
tion he  sent  about  two  thousand  nominations  to  the 
Senate,  an  average  of  over  six  a  day,  assuming  that 
he  was  allowed  to  rest  on  Sunday.  His  freedom 
of  action  was  further  curtailed  by  an  Act  of  1863, 
prohibiting  the  payment  of  a  salary  to  any  person 
appointed  to  fill  a  vacancy  existing  while  the  Sen- 
ate was  in  session,  until  the  appointment  had  been 

confirmed  by  the  Senate.     The  President  was  thus 

108 


i  ii 


1^ 


lit 


PRESIDENTIAL  KNIGHT-ERRANTRY  109 

placed  under  a  strict  compulsion  to  act  as  a  party 
employment  agent. 

If  it  is  the  prime  duty  of  a  President  to  act  in  the 
spirit  of  a  reformer,  Cleveland  is  entitled  to  high 
praise  for  the  stanchness  with  which  he  adhered 
to  his  principles  under  most  trying  circumstances. 
Upon  November  27,  1885,  he  approved  rules  con- 
firming and  extending  the  civil  service  regulations. 
Charges  that  Collector  Hedden  of  the  New  York 
Customs  House  was  violating  the  spirit  of  the  Civil 
Service  Act  and  was  making  a  party  machine  of  his 
office  caused  the  Civil  Service  Commission  to  make 
an  investigation  which  resulted  in  his  resignation 
in  July,  1886.     On  the  10th  of  August,  Daniel  Ma- 
gone  of  Ogdensburg,  New  York,  a  widely  known 
lawyer,  was  personally  chosen  by  the  President 
with  a  view  to  enforcing  the  civil  service  law  in 
the  New  York  Customs  House.    Before  making  this 
appointment,  President  Cleveland  issued  an  order 
to  all  heads  of  departments  warning  all  office- 
holders against  the  use  of  their  positions  to  control 
political  movements  in  their  localities.     "Office- 
holders, "  he  declared, "  are  the  agents  of  the  people, 
not  their  masters.     They  have  no  right,  as  office- 
holders, to  dictate  the  political  action  of  their  asso- 
ciates, or  to  throttle  freedom  of  action  within  party 


i.  • 

,  r, 


i. 


F"-    'i' 


110  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

lines  by  methods  and  practices  which  prevent  every 
useful  and  justifiable  purpose  of  party  organiza- 
tion," In  Au^'ust,  President  Cleveland  gave  sig- 
nal evidence  of  his  devotion  to  civil  service  reform 
by  appointing  a  Republican,  because  of  his  special 
qualifications,  lo  be  chief  examiner  for  the  Civil 
Service  Commission. 

Democratic  party  workers  were  so  angered  and 
disgusted  by  the  President's  policy  that  any  men- 
tion of  his  name  was  enough  to  start  a  flow  of  coarse 
denunciation.     Strong  hostility  to  his  course  of  ac- 
tion was  manifested  in  Congress.     Chairman  Ran- 
dall of  the  committee  on  appropriations  threat- 
ened to  cut  off  the  appropriation  for  ofl5ce  room  for 
the  commission.     A  "rider"  to  the  legislative  ap- 
propriation bill,  striking  at  the  civil  service  law, 
aused  a  vigorous  debate  in  the  House  in  which 
leading  Democrats  assailed  the  Administration, 
but  eventually  the  "rider"  was  ruled  out  on  a 
point  of  order.     In  the  Senate,  such  party  leaders 
as  Vance  of  North  Carolina,  Saulsbury  of  Dela- 
ware, and  Voorhees  of  Indiana,  openly  ridiculed 
the  civil   service   law,  and   various  attempts  to 
cripple  it  were  made  but  were  defeated.     Senator 
Vance  introduced  a  bill  to  repeal  the  law,  but  it 
was  imlefinitely  postponed  by  a  vote  of  33  to  6,  the 


f 


hi 


PRESIDENTIAL  KNIGHT-ERRANTRY   111 

affirmative  vote  being  cast  mainly  by  Republicans; 
and  in  general  the  strongest  support  for  the  law 
now  came  from  the  Republican  side.  Early  in 
June,  1887,  an  estimate  was  made  that  nine 
thousantl  civil  offices  outside  the  scope  of  the  civil 
service  rules  were  still  held  by  Republicans.  The 
Republican  party  press  gloated  over  the  situa- 
tion and  was  fond  of  dwelling  upon  the  way 
in  which  old-line  Democrats  were  being  nubbed 
while  the  Mugwumps  were  favored.  At  the  same 
time  civil  service  reformers  found  much  to  con- 
demn in  the  character  of  Cleveland's  appoint- 
ments. A  special  committee  of  the  National 
C'  il  Service  Reform  League,  on  March  150,  1887, 
published  a  report  in  which  they  asserted  that, 
"tried  by  the  standard  of  absolute  fidelity  to  the 
reform  as  il  is  understood  by  this  League,  it  is  nr  * 
to  be  denied  thj  t  this  Administration  has  left  much 
to  be  desired."  At  a  subsequent  session  of  the 
League,  its  President,  George  William  Curtis,  pro- 
claimed that  the  League  did  not  regard  the  Admin- 
istration as  "in  any  strict  sense  of  the  words  a 
civil  service  reform  administration."  Thus  while 
President  Cleveland  was  alienating  his  regular 
party  support  he  was  not  getting  in  return  any  o'^- 
pendable  support  from  the  reformers.    He  seemed 


I.-' 


r. 
r 


% 


n 


* 


J- 


118  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

to  be  sitting  down  between  two  stools,  both  tilting 
to  let  him  fall. 

Meanwhile  he  went  on  imperturbably  doing  his 
duty  as  he  saw  it.     Like  many  of  his  predecessors, 
he  would  rise  early  to  get  some  time  to  attend  to 
public  business  before  the  rush  of  office  seekers  be- 
gan, but  the  bulk  of  his  day's  work  lay  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  compulsory  duties  as  an  employment 
agent.     Many   difficult  situations   were  created 
by  contentions  among  Congressmen  over  appoint- 
ments.   It  was  Cleveland's  habit  to  deal  with  these 
cases  by  homely  expostulation  and  by  pleas  for  mu- 
tual concessions.     Such  incidents  do  not  of  course 
go  upon  record,  and  it  is  only  as  memoirs  and  rem- 
iniscences  of  public  men  are  published  that  this 
personal  side  of  history  becomes  known.  .  Senator 
Cullom  of  Illinois  in  his  Fifty  Years  of  Public  Serv- 
ice gives  an  account  that  doubtless  fairly  displays 
Cleveland's  way  of  handling  his  vexatious  prob- 
lems.    "I  happened  to  be  at  the  White  House  one 
day,  and  Mr.  Cleveland  said  to  me,  'I  wish  you 
would  take  up  Lamar's  nomination  and  dispose  of 
It.     I  am  1  n  hay  and  grass  with  reference  to 

the  Interior  i)epartment.  Nothing  is  being  done 
there;  I  ought  to  have  some  one  on  duty,  and  I 
cannot  do  anything  until  you  dispose  of  Lamar.'" 


r.t>    ^. 


i 


iHi 


PRESIDENTIAL  KNIGHT-ERRANTRY  113 

Mr.  Lamar,  who  had  entered  the  Cabinet  as  Secre- 
tary of  the  Interior,  was  nominated  for  associate 
justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  on  December  6,  1887. 
He  had  been  an  eminent  member  of  the  Senate, 
with  previous  distinguished  service  in  the  House, 
so  that  the  Senate  must  have  had  abundant  knowl- 
edge of  his  character  and  attainments.  It  is  im- 
possible to  assign  the  delay  that  ensued  to  reason- 
able need  of  time  for  inquiry  as  to  his  qualifications, 
but  Senator  Cullom  relates  that  "the  nomination 
pended  before  the  Judiciary  Committee  for  a  long 
time. "  Soon  after  the  personal  appeal  which  was 
made  by  the  President  to  every  Senator  he  could 
reach,  action  was  finally  taken  and  the  appointment 
was  confirmed  January  16,  1888. 

Senator  CuUom's  reminiscences  also  throw  light 
upon  the  process  by  which  judges  are  appointed. 
President  Cleveland  had  selected  Melville  W.  Ful- 
ler of  Illinois  for  the  oflSce  of  chief  justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court.  According  to  Senator  Cullom,  Sen- 
ator Edmunds  "  was  very  much  out  of  humor  with 
the  President  because  he  had  fully  expected  that 
Judge  Phelps,  of  his  own  State,  was  to  receive  the 
honor.  .  .  .  The  result  was  that  Senator  Ed- 
munds held  the  nomination,  without  any  action,  in 
the  Judiciary  Committee  for  some  three  months. " 


.1  / 


H 

if 


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Vi 


1 1     ' 


I      M 

.1 


^.  f 


114  THE  CLE\T.L.\ND  ERA 

Senator  CuUom,  although  a  party  associate  of  Ed- 
munds, was  pleased  that  the  President  had  selected 
an  Illinois  jurist  and  he  was  determined  that,  if  he 
could  help  it,  Edmunds  should  not  have  the  New 
Hampshire  candidate  appointed.  He  therefore  ap- 
pealed to  the  committee  to  do  something  about 
the  nomination,  either  one  way  or  the  other.  The 
committee  finally  reported  the  nomination  to  the 
Senate  without  recommendation.  When  the  mat- 
ter came  up  in  executive  session,  "Senator  Ed- 
munds at  once  took  the  floor  and  attacked  Judge 
Fuller  most  viciously  as  having  sympathized  with 
the  rebellion. "  But  Cullom  was  primed  to  meet 
that  argument.  He  had  been  furnished  with  a  copy 
of  a  speech  attacking  President  Lincoln  which 
Phelps  had  delivered  during  the  war,  and  he  now 
read  it  to  the  Senate, "  much  to  the  chagrin  and  mor- 
tification of  Senator  Edmunds."  Cullom  relates 
that  the  Democrats  in  the  Senate  enjoyed  the  scene. 
"Naturally,  it  appeared  to  them  a  very  funny  per- 
formance, two  Republicans  quarreling  over  the  con- 
firmation of  a  Democrat.  They  sat  silent,  however, 
and  took  no  part  at  all  in  the  debate,  leaving  us  Re- 
publicans to  settle  it  among  ourselves. "  The  result 
of  the  Republican  split  was  that  the  nomination  of 
Fuller  was  confirmed  "by  a  substantial  majority." 


.^    I 


■te 


f 


PRESIDENTIAL  KNIGHT-ERRANTRY   115 

Another  nomination  which  caused  much  agita- 
tion at  the  time  was  that  of  James  C.  Matthews  of 
New  York  to  be  Recorder  of  Deeds  in  the  District 
of  Columbia.     The  office  had  been  previously  held 
by  Frederick  Douglass,  a  distinguished  leader  of 
the  colored  race,  and  in  filling  the  vacancy  the 
President  believed  it  would  be  an  exercise  of  wise 
and  kindly  consideration  to  choose  a  member  of  the 
same  race.     But  in  the  Washington  community 
there  was  such  a  strong  antipathy  to  the  importa- 
tion of  a  negro  politician  from  New  Y'ork  to  fill  a 
local  ofTce  that  a  great  clamor  was  raised,  in  which 
Democrats  joined.     The  Senate  rejected  the  nom- 
ination, but  meanwhile  Mr.  Matthews  had  entered 
upon  the  duties  of  his  office  and  he  showed  such 
tact  and  ability  as  gradually  to  soften  the  opposi- 
tion.   On  December  21, 1886,  President  Cleveland 
renominated  him,  pointing  out  that  he  had  been  in 
actual  occupation  of  the  office  for  four  months, 
managing  its  affairs  with  such  ability  as  to  remove 
"much  of  the  opposition  to  his  appointment  which 
has  heretofore  existed. "     In  conclusion,  the  Presi- 
dent confessed  "a  desire  to  cooperate  in  tendering 
to  our  colored  fellow-citizens  just  recognition." 
This  was  a  shrewd  argument.   The  Republican  ma- 
jority in  the  Senate  shrank  from  what  might  seem  to 


..  » 


r. 


I, 


ii! 


mt 


. 


i:i 


116  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

be  drawing  the  color  line,  and  the  appointment  was 
eventually  confirmed;  but  this  did  not  remove  the 
sense  of  grievance  in  Washington  over  the  use  of 
local  oflfices  for  national  party  purposes.  Local 
sentiment  in  the  District  of  Columbia  is,  however, 
politically  unimportant,  a.s  the  community  has  no 
means  of  positive  action. ' 

In  the  same  month  in  which  President  Cleveland 
issued  his  memorable  special  message  to  the  Sen- 
ate on  the  Tenure  of  Office  Act,  he  began  another 
struggle  against  congressional  practice  in  which  he 
was  not  so  fortunate.    On  March  10, 1886,  he  sent 
to  Congress  the  first  of  his  pension  vetoes.    Al- 
though liberal  provision  for  granting  pensions  had 
been  made  by  general  laws,  numerous  special  ap- 
plications were  made  directly  to  Congress,  and 
congressmen  were  solicited  to  secure  favorable 
consideration  for  them.   That  it  was  the  duty  of 
a  representative  to  support  an  application  from  a 
resident  of  his  district  was  a  doctrine  enforced  by 
claim  agents  with  a  pertinacity  from  which  there 
was  no  escape.    To  attempt  to  assume  a  judicial 
attitude  in  the  matter  was  politically  dangerous, 

'  It  is  a  singular  fact,  which  contains  matter  for  deep  consideration, 
that  the  District  of  Columbia,  the  national  capital,  is  the  only  popu- 
lated area  in  the  civilized  world  without  any  sort  of  suffrage  rights. 


PRESroENTIAL  KNIGHT-ERRANTRY   117 

and  to  yield  assent  was  a  matter  of  practical  con- 
venience. Senator  Cullom  relates  that  when  he 
first  became  a  member  of  the  committee  on  pen- 
sions he  was  "a  little  uneasy"  lest  he  "might  be 
too  liberal."  But  he  was  guided  by  the  advice  of 
an  old,  experienced  Congressman,  Senator  Sawyer 
of  Wisconsin,  who  told  him:  "You  need  not 
worry,  you  cannot  very  well  make  a  mistake  al- 
lowing liberal  pensions  to  the  soldier  boys.  The 
money  will  get  back  into  the  Treasury  very  soon. " 
The  feeling  that  anything  that  the  old  soldiers 
wanted  should  be  granted  was  even  stronger  in  the 
House,  where  about  the  only  opportunity  of  dis- 
tinction allowed  by  the  procedure  was  to  cham- 
pion these  local  demands  upon  the  public  treasury. 
It  was  indeed  this  privilege  of  passing  pension  bills 
which  partially  reconciled  members  of  the  House  t  j 
the  actual  control  of  legislative  opportunity  by  the 
Speaker  and  the  chairmen  of  a  few  dominating 
committees.  It  was  a  congressional  perquisite  to  be 
allowed  to  move  the  passage  of  so  many  bills;  en- 
actment followed  as  a  matter  of  course.  President 
Cleveland  made  a  pointed  reference  to  this  process 
in  a  veto  message  of  June  21,  1886.  He  observed 
that  the  pension  bills  had  only  "an  apparent  Con- 
gressional sanction"  for  the  fact  was  that  "a  large 


■.■•  * 
I 

,  r 


»*  i 


J'. 


I 


'    t- 


^'l 


n 


118  THE  CLEVTJAND  KR\ 

proportion  of  these  hills  have  nevi!  heen  suhniittetl 
to  a  majority  of  either  branch  of  Congress,  but  are 
the  results  of  nominal  sessions  held  for  the  expre.ss 
purpose  of  their  consideration  and  at  tended  by  a 
small  minority  of  the  members  of  tlw  respective 
houses  of  the  legislativj-  branch  of  government." 

Obviously  the  whole  system  of  pension  legisla- 
tion was  faulty.  Mere  individual  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  President  to  screen  the  output  of  the 
system  was  scarcely  practicable  even  if  it  were  con- 
gruous with  the  nature  of  the  President's  own  du- 
ties; but  nevertheless  Cleveland  attempted  it,  and 
kept  at  it  with  stout  perseverance.  One  of  his 
veto  messages  remarks  that  in  a  single  day  nearly 
240  special  pension  bills  were  presented  to  him. 
He  referred  them  to  the  Pension  Bureau  for  ex- 
amination and  the  labor  involved  was  so  great  that 
they  could  not  be  returned  to  him  until  within  a 
few  hours  of  the  limit  fixed  by  the  Constitution 
for  the  President's  assent. 

There  could  be  no  more  signal  proof  of  President 
Cleveland's  constancy  of  soul  than  the  fact  that  he 
was  working  hard  at  his  veto  forge,  with  the  sparks 
falling  thickly  around,  right  in  his  honeymoon. 
He  married  Miss  Frances  Folsom  of  Buffalo  on 
June  2,  1886.     The  ceremony  took  place  in  the 


PRESIDENTIAL  KNIGHT-ERRANTRY     19 

White  House,  and  immediately  thereafter  the  Presi* 
dent  and  his  charming  bride  went  to  Deer  Park, 
Maryland,  a. mountain  resort.  The  respite  from 
official  cares  was  brief;  on  June  8th,  the  couple  re- 
turned to  Washington  and  some  of  the  most  pug- 
nacious of  the  pension  vetoes  were  sent  to  Congress 
soon  after.  The  rest  of  his  public  life  was  passed 
under  continual  storm,  but  the  peace  and  happiness 
of  his  domestic  life  provided  a  secure  refuge. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  rebuffs  which  Demo- 
cratic Congressmen  received  in  the  matter  of  pen- 
sion legislation  were,  it  must  be  admitted,  pe- 
culiarly exasperating.  Reviewing  the  work  of  the 
Forty-ninth  Congress,  The  Nation  mentioned  three 
enactments  which  it  characterized  as  great  achieve- 
ments that  should  be  placed  to  the  credit  of  Con- 
gress. Those  were  the  act  regulating  the  presiden- 
tial succession,  approved  January  18, 1886;  the  act 
regulating  the  counting  of  the  electoral  votes,  ap- 
proved February  3, 1887 ;  and  the  repeal  of  the  Ten- 
ure of  Office  Act,  approved  March  3, 1887.  But  all 
three  measures  originated  in  the  Senate,  and  the 
main  credit  for  their  enactment  might  be  claimed 
by  the  Republican  party.  There  was  some  ground 
for  the  statement  that  they  would  have  been 
enacted  sooner  but  for  the  disturbance  of  legislative 


I'' 

''1 

\      n 


lAl 


'I.' 


V. 


i: 


1«0  THE  CLEVELWD  EILV 

routine  by  political  upheavals  in  the  House;  and 
certainly  no  one  fould  pretend  that  it  was  to  get 
these  particular  measures  passed  that  the  Demo- 
cratic party  was  raised  to  iwwer.     The  main  cause 
of  the  political  revolution  of  1884  had  been  the  con- 
tinuance of  war  taxes,  producing  revenues  that  were 
not  only  not  needed  but  were  positively  embarrass- 
ing to  the  Government.     Popular  feeling  over  the 
matter  was  so  strong  that  even  the  Republican 
party  had  felt  bound  to  put  into  its  national  plat- 
form, in  1884,  a  pledge  "to  correct  the  irregularities 
of  the  tariff  and  to  reduce  the  surplus."    The 
people,   however,  believed  that  the  Republican 
party  had  already  been  given  sufficient  opportun- 
ity, and  they  now  turned  to  the  Democratic  party 
for  relief.    The  rank  and  file  of  this  party  felt 
acutely,  therefore,  that  they  were  not  accomplish- 
ing what  the  people  expected.     Members  arrived 
in   Washington   full   of  good   intentions.     They 
found  themselves  subject  to  a  system  which  al- 
lowed them  to  introduce  all  tlie  bilb  they  wanted 
but  not  to  obtain  action  upon  them.    Action  was 
the  prerogative  of  a  group  of  old  hands  who  man- 
aged the  important  committees  and  who  were 
divided  among  themselves  on  tariff  policy.    And 
now  the  little  bills  which,  by  dint  of  persuasion  and 


^ 

3 


i 

S. 


PRESIDENTIAL  KNIGHT-ERRANTRY   I«l 

bargaining,  thry  hud  first  put  through  tht>  commit- 
tees, and  tljen  through  both  IIousch  of  Congress, 
were  cut  down  by  cxcculive  veto,  turning  to  their 
injury  what  they  had  counted  upon  to  help  them 
in  their  districts. 

During  the  campaign,  Demo<'ratic  candidates 
had  everywhere  contenth'd  that  they  were  just  as 
good  friends  of  the  old  sohliers  as  the  Republicans. 
Now  they  fell  that  to  make  good  this  position  they 
must  do  something  to  offset  the  effect  of  President 
Ch  \'(V'nd's  vetoes.  In  his  messages  ]h«  had  fa- 
vorcii "  the  most  generous  treatment  to  the  di.sabled, 
aged  and  needy  among  our  veterans";  but  he  had 
argued  that  it  should  be  done  by  general  laws,  and 
not  by  special  acts  for  the  benefit  of  piii^ticular 
claimants.  The  Pension  Committee  of  thr  House 
responded  by  reporting  a  bill  "for  the  relief  of  de- 
pendent parents  and  honorably  discharged  soldiers 
and  sailors  who  are  now  disabled  and  dependent  up- 
on their  own  labor  for  support."  It  passed  the 
House  by  a  vote  of  180  to  76,  with  6.'i  not  voting, 
and  it  jjasscd  th«-  *^cnate  without  a  division.  On 
the  11th  of  February,  President  Cleveland  sent  in 
his  veto.  acconipanic(l  by  a  message  pointing  out 
in  the  language  of  the  act  defects  and  ambigu- 
ities  vhich  he  believed  would  "but  put  a  further 


r. 

f 


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^•1 1 


»i 


I 


.1 

I    I 


122  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

premium  on  dishonesty  and  mendacity. "    He  re- 
iterated his  desire  that  provision  should  be  made 
"for  those  who,  having  served  their  country  long 
and  well,  are  reduced  to  destitution  and  depend- 
ence, "  but  he  did  not  think  that  the  bill  was  a  pro- 
per means  of  attaining  that  object.   On  the  19th  of 
February,  the  House  committee  on  pensions  sub- 
mitted an  elaborate  report  on  the  veto,  in  which 
they  recited  the  history  of  the  bill  and  the  reasons 
actuating  the  committee.    Extracts  from  Cleve- 
land's messages  were  quoted,  and  the  committee 
declared  that,  in  "hearty  accord  with  these  views 
of  the  President  and  largely  in  accordance  with  his 
suggestions,  they  framed  a  bill  which  they  then 
thought,  and  still  continue  to  think,  will  best  ac- 
complish the  ends  proposed. "    A  motion  to  pass 
the  bill  over  the  veto  on  the  24th  of  February ,  re- 
ceived 175  votes  to  125,  but  two-thirds  not  having 
voted  in  the  affirmative  the  bill  failed  to  pass.    The 
Republicans  voted  solidly  in  support  of  the  bill,  to- 
gether with  a  large  group  of  Democrats.     The  neg- 
ative vote  came  wholly  from  the  Democratic  side. 
Such  a  fiasco  amounted  to  a  demonstration  of  the 
lack  of  intelligent  leadership.     If  the  President  and 
his  party  in  Congress  were  cooperating  for  the  fur- 
therance of  the  same  objects,  as  both  averred. 


I  i 


f-     4 


p 


PRESroENTUL  KNIGHT-ERRANTRY   123 

it  was  discreditable  all  around  that  there  should 
have  been  such  a  complete  misunderstanding  as 
to  the  procedure. 

Meanwhile  the  President  was  making  a  unique 
record  by  his  vetoes.  During  the  period  of  ninety- 
six  years  from  the  foundation  of  the  Government 
down  to  the  beginning  of  Cleveland's  administra- 
tion, the  entire  number  of  veto  messages  was  132. 
In  four  years,  Cleveland  sent  in  301  veto  messages, 
and  in  addition  he  practically  vetoed  109  bills  by 
inaction.  Of  204S  private  pension  bills  passed  by 
Congress,  1518  were  approved  and  284  became  laws 
by  lapse  of  time  without  approval.  The  positive 
results  of  the  President's  activity  were  thus  incon- 
siderable, unless  incidentally  he  had  managed  to 
correct  the  system  which  he  had  opposed.  That 
claim,  indeed,  was  made  in  his  behalf  when  The 
Nation  mentioned  "the  arrest  of  the  pension  craze" 
as  a  "positrve  achievement  of  the  first  order."' 
But  far  from  being  arrested,  "the  pension  craze" 
was  made  the  more  furious,  and  it  soon  advanced 
to  extremes  unknown  before. 

The  Democratic  politicians  naturally  viewed 
with  dismay  the  approach  of  the  national  election 
of  1888.     Any  one  could  see  that  the  party  was 

■  March  19.  1887. 


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124  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

drifting  on  to  the  rocks  and  nobody  deemed  to  be 
at  the  helm.    According  to  William  R.  Morrison, 
who  certainly  had  been  in  a  position  to  know,  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  had  "up  to  this  time  taken  no  de- 
cided ground  one  way  or  the  other  on  the  question 
of  tariff. "     He  had  included  the  subject  in  the  long 
dissertation  on  the  state  of  the  Union  which  ever 
since  Jefferson's  time,  the  President  has  been  wont 
to  send  to  Congress  at  the  opening  of  a  session,  but 
he  had  not  singled  it  out  as  having  precedence. 
He  now  surprised  the  country,  roused  his  party, 
and  gave  fresh  animation  to  national  politics  on 
December  6,  1887,  by  devoting  his  third  annual 
message  wholly  to  the  subject  of  taxation  and  rev- 
enue.    He  pointed  out  that  the  treasury  surplus 
was  mounting  up  to  $140,000,000;  that  the  redemp- 
tion of  bonds  which  had  afforded  a  means  for  dis- 
bursement of  excess  revenMcs  had  stepped  because 
there  were  no  more  bonds  that  the  Government 
had  a  right  to  redeem,  and  that  hence  the  Treasury 
"idly  holds  money  uselessly  subtracted  from  the 
channels  of  trade, "  a  situation  from  which  mone- 
tary derangement  and  business  distress  would  na- 
turally ensue.     He  strongly  urged  that  the  "pres- 
ent tariff  laws,  the  vicious,  inequitable  and  illogi- 
cal source  of  unnecessary  taxation,  ought  to  be  at 


PRESIDENTUL  KNIGHT-ERRANTRY  125 

once  revised  and  amended. "  Cleveland  gave  a  de- 
tailed analysis  of  the  injurious  effects  which  the  ex- 
isting tariff  had  upon  trade  and  industry,  and  went 
on  to  remark  that  "progress  toward  a  wise  conclu- 
sion will  not  be  improved  by  dwelling  upon  the 
theories  of  protection  and  free  trade.  This  savors 
too  much  of  bandying  epithets.  It  is  a  condition 
which  confronts  us,  not  a  theory. "  The  effect  of 
the  message  was  very  marked  both  upon  public 
opinion  and  party  activity.  Mr.  Morrison  correct- 
ly summed  up  the  party  effect  in  saying  that  "Mr. 
Mills,  obtaining  the  substantial  support  of  the  Ad- 
ministration, was  enabled  to  press  through  the 
House  a  bill  differing  in  a  very  few  essential  meas- 
ures from,  and  combining  the  general  details  and 
purposes  of,  the  several  measures  of  which  I  have 
been  the  author,  and  which  had  been  voted  against 
by  many  of  those  who  contributed  to  the  success  of 
the  Mills  Bill." 

An  incident  which  attracted  great  notice  because 
it  was  thought  to  have  a  bearing  on  the  President's 
policy  of  tariff  revision  was  the  veto  of  the  Allen- 
town  Public  Building  Bill.  This  bill  was  of  a  type 
which  is  one  of  the  rankest  growths  of  the  Con- 
gressional system  —  the  grant  of  money  not  for  the 
needs  of  public  service  but  as  a  district  favor.    It 


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126  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

appropriated  $100,000  to  put  up  a  post-office  build- 
ing  at  Allentown,  Pennsylvania,  where  adequate 
quarters  were  being  occupied  by  the  post-office  at 
an  annual  rent  of  $1300.     President  Cleveland  ve- 
toed the  bill  simply  on  the  ground  that  it  proposed 
an  unnecessary  expenditure,  but  the  fact  was  at 
once  noted  that  the  bill  had  been  fathered  by  Con- 
gressman Snowden.  an  active  adherent  of  RandaU 
in  opposition  to  the  tariff  reform  policy  of  the  Ad- 
ministration.    The  word  went  through  Congress 
and  reverberated  through  the  press  that  "there  is 
an  Allentown  for  every  Snowden. "    Mr.  Morrison 
said  in  more  polite  phrase  what  came  to  the  same 
thing  when  he  observed  that  "when  Mr.  Cleveland 
took  decided  ground  in  favor  of  revision  and  reduc- 
tion, he  represented  the  patronage  of  the  Adminis- 
tration, in  consequence  of  which  he  was  enabled  to 
enforce  party  discipline,  so  that  a  man  could  no 
longer  be  a  good  Democrat  and  favor  anything  but 
reform  of  the  tariff. " 

After  the  Mills  Bill  had  passed  the  House'  and 
had  been  sent  to  the  Senate,  it  was  held  in  com- 
mittee until  October  3. 1888.     When  it  emerged  it 

voting  14.    Randall,  bnowden.  and  two  other  Democrat,  joined  the 
R^pubhcans  in  voting  against  the  biU. 


n 


PRESroENTIAL  KNIGHT-ERRANTRY   127 

carried  an  amendment  which  was  in  effect  a  com- 
plete substitute,  but  it  was  not  taken  up  for  consid- 
eration until  after  the  presidential  election,  and  it 
was  meant  simply  as  a  Republican  alternative  to 
the  Mills  Bill  for  campaign  use.  Consideration  of 
the  bill  began  on  the  5th  of  December  and  lasted 
until  the  22nd  of  January  when  the  bill  was  re- 
turned to  the  House  transformed  into  a  new  meas- 
ure. It  was  referred  to  the  Ways  and  Means  Com- 
mittee, and  Chairman  Mills  reported  it  back  with  a 
resolution  setting  forth  that  "the  substitution  by 
the  Senate  under  the  form  of  an  amendment  .  .  . 
of  another  and  different  bill, "  is  in  conflict  with  the 
section  of  the  Constitution  which  "vests  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  the  sole  power  to  origin- 
ate such  a  measure. "  The  House  refused  to  con- 
sider the  resolution,  a  number  of  Democrats  led  by 
Mr.  Randall  voting  with  the  Republicans  in  the 
negative.  No  further  action  was  taken  on  the  bill 
and  since  that  day  the  House  has  never  ventured  to 
question  the  right  of  the  Senate  to  amend  tax  bills 
in  any  way  and  to  any  extent.  As  Senator  Cullom 
remarks  in  his  memoirs,  tbe  Democrats,  although 
they  had  long  held  the  II  ise  and  had  also  gained 
the  Presidency,  "were  just  as  powerless  to  enact 
legislation  as  they  had  been  before. " 


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I 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  PUBUC  DISCONTENTS 

While  President  and  Congress  were  passing  the 
time  in  mutual  obstruction,  the  public  discontents 
were  becoming  hot  and  bitter  to  a  degree  unknown 
before.    A  marked  feature  of  the  situation  was  the 
disturbance  of  pubhc  convenience,  involving  loss 
trouble,  and  distress  which  were  vast  in  extent  but 
not  easily  expressed  in  statistical  form.    The  first 
three  months  of  1886  saw  an  outbreak  of  labor 
troubles  far  beyond  any  previous  record  in  their 
variety  and  extent.    In  1885  the  number  of  strikes 
reported  was  645  affecting  2284  establishments,  a 
marked  increase  over  preceding  years.    In  1886 
the  number  of  strikes  rose  to  1411,  affecting  9861 
establishments  and  directly  involving  499,489  per- 
sons.    The  most  numerous  strikes  were  in  the 
building  trades,  but  there  were  severe  struggles  in 
many  other  industries.     There  was.  for  example, 
an  interruption  of  business  on  the  New  York 

128 


i\ 


THE  PUBLIC  DISCONTENTS  189 

elevated  railway  and  on  the  street  railways  of 
New  York,  Brooklyn,  and  other  cities. 

But  the  greatest  public  anxiety  was  caused  by 
the  behavior  of  the  Knights  of  Labor,  an  organiza- 
tion then  growing  so  rapidly  that  it  gave  promise  of 
uniting  under  one  control  the  active  and  energetic 
elements  of  the  working  classes  of  the  country.  It 
started  in  a  humble  way  in  December,  1869,  among 
certain  garment  cutters  in  Philadelphia,  and  for 
some  years  spread  slowly  from  that  center.  The 
organization  remained  strictly  secret  until  1878, 
in  which  year  it  held  a  national  convention  of  its 
fifteen  district  assemblies  at  Reading,  Pennsylvania. 
The  object  and  principles  of  the  order  were  now 
made  public,  and  thereafter  it  spread  with  start- 
ling rapidity,  so  that  in  1886  it  pitted  its  strength 
against  public  authority  with  a  membership  es- 
timated at  from  500,000  to  800,000.  Had  this 
body  been  an  army  obedient  to  its  leaders,  it  would 
have  wielded  great  power;  but  it  turned  »ut  to  be 
only  a  mob.  Its  members  took  part  in  demonstra- 
tions which  were  as  much  mutinies  against  the 
authority  of  their  own  executive  board  as  they 
were  strikes  against  their  employers.  The  result  of 
this  lack  of  organization  soon  began  to  be  evident 
In  March,  1886,  the  receiver  of  the  Texas  Pacific 


.5.1 


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ISO  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

Railroad  discharged  an  employee  prominent  in  the 
Knights  of  Labor  and  thus  precipitated  a  strike 
which   was  promptly  extended  to  the  Missouri 
Pacific.    There  were  riots  at  various  points  in  Mis- 
souri and  Kansas,  and  railroad  traffic  at  St .  Louis  was 
completely  suspended  for  some  days,  but  the  strike 
was  eventually  broken.     The  Knights  of  Labor 
however,  had  received  a  blow  from  which  it  never 
recovered,  and  as  a  result  its  membership  declined. 
The  order  has  since  been  almost  wholly  superseded 
by  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  established 
in  1886  through  shrewd  management  bv  an  asso- 
ciation of  labor  unions  which  had  been  maintained 
since  1881.     The  Knights  had  been  organized  by 
localities  with  the  aim  of  merging  all  classes  of 
working  men  into  one  body.     The  Federation,  on 
the  other  hand,  is  composed  of  trades  unions  re- 
taming  their  autonomy  -  a  principle  of  organiza- 
tion which  has  proved  to  be  more  solid  and  durable 
To  these  signs  of  popular  discontent  the  Govern- 
ment could  not  be  blind.     A  congressional  commit- 
tee investigated  the  railroad  strikes,  and  both  par- 
ties in  Congress  busied  themselves  with  labor  legis- 
lation.   But  in  .spite  of  this  apparent  willingness  to 
cope  with  the  .situation,  there  now  followed  another 
display  of  those  cro.ss  purposes  which  occurred  so 


r' 


THE  PUBLIC  DISCONTENTS  ISl 

often  during  the  Cleveland  administration.  The 
House  had  already  passed  a  bill  providing  means  of 
submitting  to  arbitration  controversies  between 
railroads  engaged  in  interstate  commerce  and  their 
employees.  President  Cleveland  now  sent  a  spe- 
cial message  recommending  that  "instead  of  arbi- 
trators chosen  in  the  heat  of  conflicting  claims,  and 
after  each  dispute  shall  arise,  there  be  created  a 
Commission  of  Labor,  consisting  of  three  members, 
who  shall  be  regular  officers  of  the  government, 
charged  among  other  duties  with  the  consideration 
and  settlement  when  possible,  of  all  controversies 
between  labor  and  capital."  In  spite  of  the  ur- 
gency of  the  situation,  the  Senate  seized  this  tx> 
casion  for  a  new  display  of  party  tactics,  and  it 
allowed  the  bill  already  passed  by  the  House  to 
lie  without  action  while  it  proceeded  to  consider 
various  labor  measures  of  its  own.  For  example, 
by  June  1,  1886,  the  Senate  had  passed  a  bill  pro- 
viding that  eight  hours  should  be  a  day's  work  for 
letter-carriers;  soon  afterwards  it  passed  a  bill  legal- 
izing the  incorporation  of  national  trades  unions, 
to  which  the  House  promptly  assented  without  a 
division;  and  the  House  then  continued  its  labor 
record  by  passing  on  the  15th  of  July  a  bill  against 
the  importation  of  contract  labor.     This  last  bill 


ri  < 


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»  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

wa.  not  passed  by  the  Senate  until  aftef  the  fall 
elections.  It  was  approved  by  the  President  on 
February  «3,  li»87. 

The  Senate  also  delayed  action  on  the  House  bill, 
which  proposed  arbitration  in  labor  disputes,  until 
the  dose  of  the  session;  and  then  the  President,  in 
view  of  his  disregarded  suggestion,  withheld  his  as- 
sent.    It  was  not  until  the  following  year  that  the 
legislation  recommended  by  the  President  was  en- 
acted.    By  the  Act  of  June  13.  1888.  the  Depart- 
ment of  Labor  was  established,  and  by  the  Act  of 
October  1,  1888.  in  addition  to  provision  for  volun- 
tary arbitration  between  railroad  corporations  and 
their  employees,  the  President  was  authorized  to 
appoint  a  commission  to  investigate  labor  conflicts, 
with  power  to  act  as  a  board  of  conciliation.    Dur- 
ing  the  ten  years  in  which  the  act  remained  on  the 
statute  books  it  was  actually  put  to  use  only  in  1894, 
when  a  commission  was  appointed  to  investigate 
the  Pullman  strike  at  Chicago,  but  this  body  took 
no  action  towards  settling  the  dispute. 

Thus  far,  then,  the  efforts  of  the  Government  to 
deal  with  the  labor  problem  had  not  been  entirely 
successful.  It  is  true  that  the  labor  conflicts  arose 
over  differences  which  only  indirectly  involved 
constitutional  questions.     The  aims  of  both  the 


ili'  i  i 


THE  PUBLIC  DISCONTENTS  188 

Knights  of  Labor  and  of  the  American  Federation 
were  primarily  economic  and  both  organizations 
were  opposed  to  agitation  of  a  distinctively  politi- 
cal character.  But  parallel  with  the  labor  agita- 
tion and  in  communication  with  it  there  were  radi- 
cal reform  movements  of  a  type  unknown  before. 
There  was  now  to  ari.se  a  socialistic  movement  op- 
posed to  traditional  constitutionalism  and  there- 
fore viewed  with  alarm  in  many  parts  of  the  coun- 
try. Veneration  of  the  Constitution  of  1787  was 
practically  a  national  sentiment  which  had  lasted 
from  the  time  the  Union  was  successfully  estab- 
lished until  the  Cleveland  era.  However  violent 
political  differences  in  regard  to  public  policy  might 
be,  it  was  the  invariable  rule  that  proposals  must 
claim  a  constitutional  sanction.  In  the  Civil  War 
both  sides  felt  themselves  to  be  fighting  in  defense 
of  the  traditional  Constitution. 

The  appeal  to  antiquity  —  even  such  a  moderate 
degree  of  antiquity  as  may  be  claimed  for  American 
institutions  —  has  always  been  the  staple  argu- 
ment in  American  political  controversy.  The 
views  aiiJ  intentions  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Con- 
stitution are  exhibited  not  so  much  for  instruction 
as  for  imitation,  and  by  means  of  glosses  and  inter- 
pretations conclusions  may  be  reached  which  would 


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IS*  THE  CLEVEL\ND  ERA 

have  surprised  the  Fathers  to  whom  they  are  im- 
puted.    Those  who  examine  the  records  of  the 
formative  period  of  Amfrieun  institutions,  not  to 
obtain  material  for  u  case  but  simply  to  ascertain 
the  facts,  will  readily  observe  that  what  is  known 
as  the  principle  of  strict  construction  dates  only  from 
the  organization  of  national  parties  under  the  Con- 
stitution.    It  was  an  invention  of  the  opposition 
to  Federalist  rule  and  was  not  held  by  the  makers 
of  the  Constitution  themselves.     The  main  con- 
cern of  the  framers  was  to  i?et  powtr  for  the  Na- 
tional Government  and  thej  went  as  far  as  they 
could,  with  such  success  that  striking  instiinces 
may  be  culled  from  the  writings  of  the  Fathers 
showing  that  the  scope  they  contemplated  has  yet 
to  be  attained.     Strict  construction  affords  a  short 
and  easy  way  of  avoiding  troublesome  issues  — 
always  involved  in  unforeseen  national  develop- 
ments —  by  substituting  the  question  of  constitu- 
tional power  for  a  question  of  public  propriety. 
But  this  method  has  the  disadvantage  that  it  l>e- 
littles  the  Constitution  by  making  it  an  obstacle  to 
progress.    Running  through  much  political  con- 
troversy in  the  United  States  is  the  argument  that, 
even  granting  that  a  proposal  has  all  the  merit 
claimed  for  it,  nevertheless  it  cannot  be  adopted 


'^  t 


THE  PUBLIC  DISCONTENTS  135 

because  the  Constitution  is  against  it.  By  strict 
logical  inference  the  rejoinder  then  comes  tliat,  if 
80,  the  Constitution  is  no  longer  un  instrument  of 
national  advantage.  The  traditional  attachment 
of  the  American  people  to  the  Constitution  has  in- 
deed been  so  strong  that  they  have  been  loath  to 
accept  the  inference  that  the  Constitution  is  out 
of  date,  although  the  quality  of  legislation  at 
Washington  kept  persistently  suggesting  that  view 
of  the  case. 

The  failures  and  disappointments  resulting  from 
the  series  of  national  elections  from  1874  to  1884 
at  last  tj:.\(ii'  an  opening  for  party  movemctits  voic- 
ing the  popular  discontent  and  openly  antagonistic 
lo  the  traditional  Constitution.  The  Socialist  La- 
bor party  held  its  first  national  convention  in 
ISI"?.  Its  membership  was  mostly  foreign;  of 
twenty-four  periodical  publications  ih«'n  carried  on 
in  the  party  interest,  only  eif,'ht  v  •  t .-.  j,  t},e  English 
language;  and  this  polyglot  y>v^■•^.'■  ;.■  m>  -i  itification 
to  the  remark  that  the  mov<  •  -i  .  ii  i  ir  he  hands 
of  people  who  proposed  to  r*  m*.  ■  i  i':'  institutions 
of  the  country  before  they  hai?  . « r iiiri-d  its  lan- 
guage. The  alien  origin  of  the  movement  was  em- 
phasized by  the  appearance  of  two  Socialist  mem- 
bers of  the  German  Reichstag,  who  made  a  tour  of 


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136  THE  CLEVELAND  EIL\ 

this  country  in  1881  to  stir  up  interest  in  the  cause. 
It  was  soon  apparent  that  the  growth  of  the  So- 
cmh'st  party  organization  was  hindered  by  the 
fact  that  its  methods  were  too  studious  and  its  dis- 
cussions too  abstract  to  suit  the  energetic  tem- 
per of  the  times.  Many  Socialists  broke  away  to 
join  revolutionary  clubs  which  were  now  organ- 
ized in  a  number  of  cities  without  any  clearly  de- 
fined  principle  save  to  fight  the  existing  system 
of  government. 

At  this  critical  moment  in  the  process  of  social 
disorganization,  the  influence  of  foreign  destruc- 
tive thought  made  itself  felt.     The  arrival  of  Jo- 
hann  Most  from  Europe  in  the  fall  of  1882  supplied 
this  revolutionary  movement  with  a  leader  who 
made  anarchy  its  principle.    Originally  a  German 
Socialist  aiming  to  make  the  State  the  sole  landlord 
and  capitalist,  he  had  gone  over  to  anarchism  and 
proposed  to  dissolve  the  State  altogether,  trusting 
to  voluntary  association  to  supply  all  genuine  so- 
cial needs.    Driven  from  Germany,  he  had  taken 
refuge  in  England,  but  even  the  habitual  British 
tolerance  had  given  way  under  his  praise  of  the  as- 
sassination of  the  Czar  Alexander  in  1881  and  his 
proposal  to  treat  other  rulers  in  the  same  way. 
He  had  just  completed  a  term  of  imprisonment 


a  ■ 


»} 


THE  PUBLIC  DISCONTENTS  137 

before  coming  to  the  United  States.  Here  he  was 
received  as  a  hero;  a  great  mass  meeting  in  his 
honor  was  held  in  Cooper  Union,  Xew  York,  in 
December,  1882;  and  when  he  toured  the  country 
he  everywhere  addressed  large  meetings. 

In  October,  1883,  a  convention  of  social  revolu- 
tionists and  anarchists  was  held  in  Chicago,  at 
which  a  national  organization  was  formed  called 
the  International  Working  People's  As.sociation. 
The  new  organization  grew  much  faster  than  the 
Socialist  party  it.self,  which  now  almost  disap- 
peared. Two  years  later,  the  International  had  a 
party  press  consisting  of  seven  German,  two  Bo- 
hemian, and  only  two  English  papers.  Like  the 
Socialist  party,  it  was  therefore  mainly  foreign  in 
its  membership.  It  was  strongest  in  and  about 
Chicago,  where  it  included  twenty  groups  with 
three  thou.sand  enrolled  members.  The  anarchist 
papers  exhorted  their  adherents  to  provide  them- 
selves with  arms  and  even  published  in.structions 
for  the  use  of  dynamite. 

Politicpl  and  industrial  conditions  thus  supplied 
material  for  an  explosion  which  came  with  shocking 
violence.  On  May  4,  1885,  towards  the  close  of 
an  anarchist  meeting  held  in  Chicago,  a  dynamite 
bomb  thrown  among  a  force  of  policemen  killed  one 


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11 


138  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

and  wounded  many.     Fire  was  at  once  opened  on 
both  sides,  and,  although  the  battle  lasted  only  a 
few  minutes,  seven  policemen  were  killed  and  about 
sixty  wounded,  while  on  the  side  of  the  anarchists 
four  were  killed  and  about  fifty  were  wounded. 
Ten  of  the  anarchist  leaders  were  promptly  in- 
dicted, of  whom  one  made  his  escape  and  another 
tamed  State's  evidence.     The  trial  of  the  remain- 
ing eight  began  on  June  21.  1886,  and  two  months 
later  the  death  sentence  was  imposed  upon  seven 
and  a  penitentiary-  term  of  fifteen  years  upon  one. 
The  sentences  of  two  of  the  seven  were  commuted 
to  life  imprisonment ;  one  committed  suicide  in  his 
ceil  by  exploding  a  cartridge  in  his  mouth;  and 
four  met  death  on  the  scaffold.     While  awaiting 
their  fate  they  were  to  a  startling  extent  regarded 
as  heroes  and  bore  thtroselves  as  martyrs  to  a  noble 
cuse.     Six  years  later  Illinois  elected  as  gover- 
mm  Jolm  P.  Altgeld.  one  of  whose  first  steps  was 
to  issK>  a  pardon  to  the  three  who  were  serving 
terata  of  imprisonment   and   to  criticize  sharply 
the  conduct  of  the  trial  which  had  resulted  in  the 
coBvietioB  of  the  anarchists. 

The  Chicago  outbreak  and  its  result  stopped  the 
open  spread  of  anarchism.  Organized  labor  now 
withdrew  from  any  sort  of  association  with  it.  This 


I 


I"  I 


THE  PUBLIC  DISCONTENTS  139 

cleared  the  field  for  a  revival  of  the  Socialist  move- 
ment as  the  agency  of  social  and  political  recon- 
struction. So  rapidly  did  it  gain  in  membership 
and  influence  that  by  1892  it  was  able  to  present  it- 
self as  an  organized  national  party  appealing  to 
public  opinion  for  confidence  and  support,  submit- 
ting its  claims  to  public  discussion,  and  stating  its 
case  upon  reasonable  grounds.  Although  its  mem- 
bership was  small  in  comparison  with  that  of  the 
old  parties,  yet  the  disparity  was  not  .so  great  as  it 
seemed,  since  the  Socialists  represented  active  in- 
telligence while  the  other  parties  represented  po- 
litical inertia.  From  this  time  on.  Socialist  views 
spread  among  college  students,  artists,  and  men 
of  letters,  and  the  academic  Socialist  became  a 
familiar  figure  in  American  society. 

Probably  more  significant  than  the  Socialist 
movement  as  an  indication  o'  the  popular  demand 
for  radical  reform  in  the  government  of  the  coun- 
trj'  was  the  New  York  campaign  of  Henry  George 
in  1886.  He  was  a  San  Francisco  printer  »nd 
journalist  when  he  publi.shed  the  worii  on  Progress 
and  Poverty  which  made  him  famous  Upon  the 
petition  of  over  thirty  thousand  citueus  he  bt^am** 
the  Labor  candidate  for  mayor  of  New  \'ork  City. 
The  movement  in  support  of  George  deveioped  so 


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140  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

much  strength  that  the  regular  parties  felt  com- 
pelled to  put  forward  exceptionally  strong  can- 
didates.    The   Democrats  nominated  Abram   S. 
Hewitt,  a  man  of  the  highest  type  of  character  — 
a  fact  which  was  not  perhaps  so  influential  in  get- 
ting him  the  nomination  as  that  he  was  the  son-in- 
law  of  Peter  Cooper,  a  philanthropist  justly  be- 
loved by  the  working  classes.     The  Republicans 
nominated  Theodore  Roosevelt,  who  had  already 
distinguished  himself  by  his  energy  of  character 
and  zeal   for  reform.     Hewitt   was  elected,   but 
George  received  68,1 10  votes  out  of  a  total  of  219,. 
679,  and  stood  second  in  the  poll.     His  supporters 
contended  that  he  had  really  been  elected  but  had 
been  counted  out,  and  this  belief  turned  their  at- 
tention to  the  subject  of  ballot  reform.     To  the 
agitation  which  Henry  George  began  may  be  fairly 
ascribed  the  general  adoption  of  the  Australian 
ballot  in  the  United  States. 

The  Socialist  propaganda  carried  on  in  large  cit- 
ies and  in  factory  towns  hardly  touched  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  who  be- 
longed  to  the  farm  rather  than  to  the  workshop. 
The  great  agricultural  cla.ss,  which  had  more 
weight  at  the  polls  than  any  other  dass  of  citizens, 
was  much  interested  in  the  redress  of  particular 


THE  PUBLIC  DISCONTENTS 


141 


grievances  and  very  little  in  any  general  reform  of 
the  governmental  system.  It  is  a  class  that  is  con- 
servative in  disposition  but  distrustfisl  of  authority, 
impatient  of  what  is  theoretical  and  abstract,  and 
bent  upon  the  quick  practical  solution  of  problems 
by  the  nearest  and  simplest  means.  While  the 
Socialists  in  the  towns  were  interested  in  labor 
questions,  the  farmers  more  than  any  other  class 
were  affected  by  the  defective  system  of  currency 
supply.  The  national  banking  system  had  not 
been  devised  to  meet  industrial  needs  but  as  a  war 
measure  to  provide  a  market  for  government  bonds, 
deposits  of  which  had  to  be  made  as  the  basis  of 
note  issues.  As  holdings  of  government  bonds 
were  amassed  in  the  East,  financial  operations 
tended  to  confine  themselves  to  that  part  of  the 
country,  and  banking  facilities  seemed  to  be  in  dan- 
ger of  becoming  a  sectional  monopoly,  and  such, 
indeed,  was  the  case  to  a  marked  extent.  This  situ- 
ation inspired  among  the  farmers,  especially  in  the 
agricultural  West,  a  hatred  of  Wall  Street  and  a  be- 
lief in  the  existence  of  a  malign  money  pow<T  which 
provided  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  sectional  feeling 
for  demagogic  exploitation. 

For  lack  of  proper  machinery  of  credit  for  carry- 
ing on  the  process  of  exchange  there  seemed  to  be 


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J*2  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

an  absolute  shortage  in  the  amount  of  money  in 
circulation,  and  if  was  this  circumstance  that  had 
given  sucli  force  to  the  (Jreenback  Movement.   Al- 
though that  movement  was  defeated,  its  support- 
ers urged  that,  if  the  Government  could  not  sup- 
ply additional  note  issues,  it  shouhl  at  least  permit 
an  increase  in  the  stock  of  coined  money.     This 
feeling  was  so  strong  that  as  early  as  1877  the 
House  had  passed  a  bill  for  the  free  coinage  of  silver 
For  this  the  Senate  substituted  a  measure  requiring 
the  purchase  and  coinage  by  the  Government  of 
from  two  to  four  million  dollars'  worth  of  silver 
monthly,  and  this  compromise  was  accepted  by  the 
House.   As  a  result,  in  February,  1878.  it  was  passed 
over  President  Hayes's  veto. 

''  !;e  operation  of  this  act  naturally  tended  to 
cause  the  hoarding  of  gold  as  the  cheaper  silver  was 
equally  a  legal  tender,  and  meanwhile  the  silver 
dollars  did  not  tend  to  pass  into  circulation.     In 
1885,  in  his  first  annual  message  to  Congress.  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  mentioned  the  fact  that,  although 
215,7.59,431  silver  dollars  had  been  coined,  only 
about  fifty  million  had  found  their  way  into  circu- 
lation, and  that  "every  month  two  millions  of  gold 
in  the  public  Treasury  are  paid  out  for  two  millions 
or  more  of  silver  dollars  to  be  addtnl  to  the  idle  mass 


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THE  PUBLIC  mSCONTENfS  U3 

already  arrumulatwl. "    The  procesH  was  draining 
the  stock  of  gold  in  the  TmiMury  and  forcing  the 
country  to  a  silver  basis  without  really  increasing 
the  amount  of  money  in  actual  circulation  or  re- 
moving any  of  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  obtain- 
ing supplies  of  currency  for  business  transactions. 
President  Cleveland  recommended  the  repeal  of 
the  Silver  Coinage  Act,  but  he  had  no  plan  to  of- 
fer by  which  the  genuine  complaints  of  the  peofile 
against  the  existing  monetary  systeni  could  be  re- 
moved.     Free  silver  thus  was  allowed  to  stand  be- 
fore the  people  as  the  only  practical  projiosal  for 
their  relief,  and  upon  this  i.ssue  a  conflict  soon 
began  betw  on  Congress  and  the  Administration. 
At  a  convention  of  the  American  Bankers*  Asso- 
ciation in  September.  1885.  a  New  York  bank  presi- 
dent described  the  methotls  by  which  the  Treasury 
Department  was  restricting  the  o|M>ration  of  the 
Silver  Coinage  Act  so  as  to  avoid  a  displacement  of 
the  gold  standard.     On  February  3,  188«.  Chair- 
man Bland  of  the  House  conmiittee  on  coinage  re- 
ported a  resolution  reciting  stattnients  made  in 
that  address,  and  calling  upon  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  for  a  detailed  account  of  his  administra- 
tion of  the  Silver  Coinage  Act.     Secretary  Mann- 
ing's reply  was  a  long  and  weighty  argument  against 


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jS     -APPLIED  IN/MGE 


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Rochester,    New  York        14609       USA 

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(716)   288  -  5969  -Fax 


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144  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

continuing  the  coinage  of  silver.  He  contended 
that  there  was  no  hope  of  maintaining  a  fixed  ratio 
between  gold  and  silver  except  by  international 
concert  of  action,  but  "the  step  is  one  which  no 
European  nation  .  will  consent  to  take  while 

the  direct  or  indirect  substitution  of  European  sil- 
ver for  United  States  gold  seems  a  possibility  " 
While  strong  as  to  what  not  to  do.  his  reply  like 
most  of  the  state  papers  of  this  period,  was  welk  as 
to  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it.    The  outlook  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  so  nai^  dw  that  he 
was  led  to  remark  that  "a  delusion  has  spread  that 
the  Government  has  authority  to  fix  the  amount  of 
the  people's  currency,  and  the  power,  and  the 
duty. "    The  Government  certainly  has  the  power 
and  the  duty  of  providing  adequate  currency  sup- 
ply through  a  sound  banking  system.     The  instinct 
of  the  people  on  that  point  was  sounder  than  the 
view  of  their  rulers. 

Secretary  Manning's  plea  had  so  little  effect  that 
the  House  promptly  voted  to  suspend  the  rules  in 
order  to  make  a  free  coinage  bill  the  special  order  of 
busmess  until  it  was  disposed  of.  But  the  influ- 
ence  of  the  Administration  was  strong  enough 
to  defeat  the  bill  when  it  came  to  a  vote.  Though 
for  a  time  the  legislative  advance  of  the  silver 


'i; 


THE  PUBLIC  DISCONTENTS  145 

movement  was  successfully  resisted,  the  Treasury 
Department  was  left  in  a  difficult  situation,  and 
the  expedients  to  which  it  resorted  to  guard  the 
gold  supply  added  to  the  troubles  of  the  people  in 
the  matter  of  obtaining  currency.  The  quick  way 
of  getting  gold  from  the  Treasury  was  to  present  le- 
gal tender  notes  for  redemption .  '^'o  keep  this  pro- 
cess in  check,  legal  tender  notes  were  impounded 
as  they  came  in,  and  silver  certificates  were  substi- 
tuted in  disbursements.  But  under  the  law  of 
1878  silver  certificates  could  not  be  issued  in  de- 
nominations of  less  than  ten  dollars.  A  scarcity 
of  small  notes  resulted,  which  oppressed  retail  trade 
until,  in  August,  1886,  Congress  authorized  the  is- 
sue of  silver  certificates  in  one  and  two  and  five 
dollar  bills. 

A  more  difficult  problem  was  presented  by  the 
Treasury  surplus  which,  by  old  regulations  savor- 
ing more  of  barbarism  than  of  civilized  polity,  had 
to  be  kept  idle  in  the  Treasury  vaults.  The  only  ap- 
parent means  by  which  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury could  return  his  surplus  funds  to  the  channels 
of  trade  was  by  redeeming  government  bonds,  but 
as  these  were  the  basis  of  bank  note  issues,  the 
effect  of  any  such  action  was  to  produce  a  sharp 
contraction  in  this  class  of  currency.     Between 


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146  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

1882  and  1889  national  bank  notes  declined  in 
amount  from  $356,060,348  to  $199,779,011.  In 
the  same  period  the  issue  of  silver  certificates  in- 
creased from  $63,204,780  to  $276,619,715,  and  the 
total  amount  of  currency  of  all  sorts  nominally  in- 
creased from  $1,188,752,363  to  $1,405,018,000,  but 
of  this  $375,947,715  was  in  gold  ooin  which  was  be- 
ing hoarded,  and  national  bank  notes  were  almost 
equally  scarce  since  they  were  virtually  government 
bonds  in  a  liquid  form. 

As  the  ineflSciency  of  the  monetary  system  came 
home  to  the  people  in  practical  experience,  it 
seemed  as  if  they  were  being  plagued  and  inconven- 
ienced in  every  possible  way.  The  conditions  were 
just  such  as  would  spread  disaffection  among  the 
farmers,  and  their  discontent  sought  an  outlet.  The 
growth  of  political  agitation  in  .^  agricultural 
class,  accompanied  by  a  thoroughgoing  disapproval 
of  existing  party  leadership,  gave  rise  to  numerous 
new  party  movements.  Delegates  from  the  Agri- 
cultural Wheel,  the  Corn-Planters,  the  Anti- 
Monopolists,  Farmers'  Alliance,  and  Grangers,  at- 
tended a  convention  in  February,  1887,  and  joined 
the  Knights  of  Labor  and  the  Greenh ackers  to  form 
the  United  Labor  party.  In  the  country  at  this 
time  there  were  numerous  other  labor  parties  of 


THE  PUBLIC  DISCONTEiNTS  147 

local  origin  and  composition,  with  trade  unionists 
predominating  in  some  places  and  Socialists  in 
others.  Very  early,  however,  these  parties  showed 
a  tendency  to  division  that  indicated  a  clash  of  in- 
compatible elements.  Single  taxers,  greenbackers, 
labor  leaders,  grangers,  and  socialists  were  agreed 
only  in  condemning  existing  public  policy.  \\  hen 
they  came  to  consider  the  question  of  what  new 
policy  should  be  adopted,  they  immediately  mani- 
fested irreconcilable  differences.  In  1888,  rival 
national  conventions  were  held  in  Cincinnati,  one 
designating  itself  as  the  Union  Labor  party,  the 
other  as  the  United  Labor  party.  One  made  a 
schedule  of  particular  demands;  the  other  insisted 
on  the  single  tax  as  the  consummation  of  their  pur- 
pose in  seeking  reform.  Both  put  presidential 
tickets  in  the  field,  but  of  the  two  the  Union  Labor 
party  made  by  far  the  better  shewing  at  the  polls 
though,  even  so,  it  polled  fewer  votes  than  did  the 
National  Prohibition  party.  Although  making  no 
very  considerable  showing  at  the  polls  these  new 
movements  were  very  significant  as  evidences 
of  popular  unrest.  The  fact  that  the  heaviest 
vote  of  the  Union  Labor  party  was  polled  in  the 
agricultural  States  of  Kansas,  Missouri,  and 
Texas,  was  a  portent  of  the  sweep  of  the  populist 


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■1  # 


148  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

movement  wh^ch  virtually  captured  the  Democratic 
party  organization  during  President  Cleveland's 
second  term. 

The  withdrawal  of  Blaine  from  the  list  of  presi- 
dential candidates  in  1888  left  the  Republican  Con- 
vention at  Chicago  to  choose  from  a  score  of  "fa- 
vorite sons. "  Even  his  repeated  statement  that  he 
would  not  accept  the  nomination  did  not  prevent 
his  enthusiastic  followers  from  hoping  that  the 
convention  might  be  "stampeded."  But  on  the 
first  ballot  Blaine  received  only  thirty-five  votes 
while  John  Sherman  led  with  229.  It  was  any- 
body's race  until  the  eighth  ballot,  when  General 
Benjamin  Harrison,  grandson  of  "Tippecanoe," 
suddenly  forged  ahead  and  received  the  nomination. 

The  defeat  of  the  Democratic  party  at  the  polls 
in  the  presidential  election  of  1888  was  less  em- 
phatic than  might  have  been  expected  from  its  sorry 
record.  Indeed,  it  is  quite  possible  that  an  indis- 
cretion in  which  Lord  Sackville-West,  the  British 
Ambassador,  was  caught  may  have  turned  the 
scale.  An  adroitly  worded  letter  was  sent  to  him, 
purporting  to  come  from  Charles  Murchison,  a 
California  voter  of  English  birth,  asking  confiden- 
tial advice  which  might  enable  the  writer  "to  as- 
sure many  of  our  countrymen  that  they  would  do 


i; 


'!     «i 


THE  PUBLIC  DISCONTENTS  149 

England  a  service  by  voting  for  Cleveland  and 
against  the  Republican  system  of  tariff."  With 
an  astonishing  lack  of  astuteness  the  British  min- 
ister fell  into  the  trap  and  sent  a  reply  which,  while 
noncommittal  on  particulars,  exhibited  friendly  in- 
terest in  the  reelection  of  President  Cleveland. 
This  correspondence,  when  published  late  in  the 
campaign,  caused  the  Administration  to  demand 
his  recall.  A  spirited  statement  of  the  case  was 
laid  before  the  public  by  Thomas  Francis  Bayard, 
Secretary  of  State,  a  few  days  before  the  election, 
but  this  was  not  enough  to  undo  the  harm  that  had 
been  done,  and  the  Mtirchison  letter  takes  rank 
with  the  Morey  letter  attributed  to  General  Gar-, 
field  as  specimens  of  the  value  of  the  campaign  lie 
as  a  weapon  in  American  party  politics. 

President  Cleveland  received  a  slight  plurality 
in  the  total  popular  vote;  but  by  small  pluralities 
Harrison  carried  the  big  States,  thus  obtaining  a 
heavy  majority  in  the  electoral  vote.  At  the  same 
time  the  Republicans  obtained  nearly  as  large 
a  majority  in  the  House  as  the  Democrats  had 
had  before. 


;  . 


:•   i 

'    i. 


i  I 


M 


S     I 

li 


'.;s 


CHAPTER  VIII 


ii 


■^ 


f    \ 


THE  REPUBUCAN  OPPORTUNITY 

The  Republican  party  had  the  inestimable  ad- 
vantage in  the  year  1889  of  being  able  to  act.  It 
controlled  the  Senate  which  had  become  the  seat  of 
legislative  authority;  it  controlled  the  House;  and 
it  had  placed  its  candidate  in  the  presidential  chair. 
All  branches  of  the  Government  were  now  in  party 
accord.  The  leaders  in  both  Houses  were  able 
men,  experienced  in  the  diplomacy  which,  far  more 
than  argument  or  conviction,  produces  congres- 
sional action.  Benjamin  Harrison  himself  had 
been  a  member  of  the  ruling  group  of  Senators,  and 
as  he  was  fully  imbued  with  their  ideas  as  to  the 
proper  place  oi  the  President  he  was  careful  to 
avoid  interference  with  legislative  procedure.  Such 
was  the  party  harmony  t'lat  an  extensive  pro- 
gram of  legislation  was  put  through  without  serious 
difficulty,  after  obstruction  had  been  overcome  in 
the  House  by  an  amendment  of  the  rules. 

150 


I  '\ 


THE  REPUBLICAN  OPPOlv    ^  NITY      151 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  the  quorum  is 
a  majority  of  the  whole  membership.  This  rule 
enabled  the  minority  to  stop  business  at  any  time 
when  the  majority  party  was  not  present  in  suffi- 
cient strength  to  maintain  the  quorum  by  its  own 
vote.  On  several  occasions  the  Democrats  left  the 
House  nominally  without  a  quorum  by  the  sub- 
terfuge of  refusing  to  answer  to  their  names  on  the 
roll  call.  Speaker  Reed  determined  to  end  this 
practice  by  counting  as  present  any  members  ac- 
tually in  the  chamber.  To  the  wrath  of  the  mi- 
nority he  assumed  this  authority  while  a  revision 
of  the  rules  was  pending.  The  absurdity  of  the 
Democratic  position  was  naively  exposed  when  a 
.nember  arose  with  a  law  book  in  his  hand  and  said, 
"I  deny  your  right,  Mr.  Speaker,  to  count  me  as 
present,  and  I  desire  to  read  from  the  parliamen- 
tary law  on  the  subject. "  Speaker  Reed,  with  the 
nasal  drawl  that  was  his  habit,  replied,  "The  Chair 
•making  a  statement  of  fact  that  the  gentleman 
-m  Kentucky  is  present.'*  Does  he  deny  it.?" 
^e  rejoinder  was  so  apposite  that  the  House  broke 
into  a  roar  of  laughter,  and  the  Speaker  carried 
his  point. 

Undoubtedly  Speaker  Reed  was  violating  all 
precedents.    Facilities  of  obstruction  had   been 


I  I 


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158  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

chemhed  b/  both  parties,  and  nothing  short  of 
Reed's  earnestness  and  determination  could  have 
effected  this  salutary  reform.     The  fact  has  since 
been  disclosed  that  he  had  made  up  hii  .nind  to  re- 
sign the  Speakership  and  retire  from  pubhc  life  had 
his  party  failed  to  support  him.    For  three  days  the 
House  was  a  bedlam,  but  the  Speaker  bore  himself 
throughout  with  unflinching  courage  and  unruflBed 
composure.    Eventually  he  had  his  way.    New 
rules  were  adopted,  and  tht  power  to  count  a  quo- 
rum was  established. '   When  in  later  Congresses  a 
Democratic  majority  returned  to  the  former  prac- 
tice, '^.eed  gave  them  such  a  dose  of  their  own  med- 
icine that  for  weeks  the  House  was  unable  to  keep 
a  quorum.   Finally,  the  House  vas  forced  to  return 
to  the  "Reed  rules"  which  have  since  then  been 
permanently  retained.    As  a  result  of  congres- 
sional example  they  have  been  generally  adopt- 
ed by  American  legislative  bodies,  with  a  marked 
improvement  in  their  capacity  to  do  busii    «. 

With  the  facilities  of  action  which  they  now  pos- 
sessed, the  Republican  leaders  had  no  difficulty  in 
gett'ng  rid  of  the  surplus  in  the  Treasury.  Indeed, 
in  this  particular  they  could  count  on  Democratic 

'  The  rule  that  "no  diktory  motion  shall  be  entertained  by  the 
Speaker"  waa  also  adopted  at  thia  time. 


\  .1' 


THE  REPUBLICAN  OPPORTUNITY      15S 

aid.  The  main  conduit  which  they  used  was  an 
increase  of  pension  expenditures.  President  Har- 
rison encouraged  u  spirit  of  broad  liberality  toward 
veterans  of  the  Civil  War.  During  the  campaign 
he  said  that  it  "was  no  time  to  be  weighing  the 
claims  of  old  sold.^T  with  apothecary's  scales," 
and  he  put  this  principle  of  generous  recognition 
into  effect  by  appointing  as  commissioner  of  pen- 
sions a  robust  partisan  known  as  "Corporal"  Tan- 
ner. The  report  went  abroad  that  on  taking  office 
he  Had  gleefully  declared,  "God  help  the  surplus," 
and  upon  that  maxim  he  acted  with  unflinching 
vigor.  It  seemed,  indeed,  as  if  any  claim  could 
count  upon  being  allowed  so  long  as  it  purpoited  to 
come  from  an  old  soldier.  But  Tanner's  ambition 
was  not  satisfied  with  an  indulgent  consideration  of 
applications  pending  during  his  time;  he  reopened 
old  cases,  rerated  a  large  number  of  pensioners, 
and  increased  the  amount  of  their  allowance.  In 
some  cases  large  sums  were  granted  as  arrears  due 
on  the  basis  of  the  new  rate.  A  number  of  officers 
of  the  peiif  i  bureau  were  thus  favored,  for  a  man 
might  receive  a  pension  on  the  score  of  disability 
though  still  able  to  hold  office  and  draw  its  sala'-y 
and  emoluments.  For  example,  the  sum  of  $4300 
in  arrears  was  declared  to  be  dae  to  a  member 


i    I 


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a 


A 


i   i 


154  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

of  the  United  States  Senate.  Charles  F.  Mander- 
son  of  Nebraska.  Finally  "Cornorar*  Tanner's 
extravagant  management  became  so  Intolerable 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  that  he  confront- 
ed  President  Harrison  with  the  choice  of  accept- 
ing his  resignation  or  dismissing  Tanner.  Tanner 
therefore  had  to  go,  and  with  him  his  system  of 
reratings. 

A  pension  bill  for  dependents  such  as  Cleveland 
had  vetoed,  now  went  triumphantly  through  Con- 
gress. •  It  granted  pensions  of  from  six  to  twelve 
dollars  a  month  to  all  persons  who  had  served  for 
ninety  days  in  the  Civil  War  and  had  thereby  been 
incapacitated  for  manual  labor  to  such  a  degree  as 
to  be  unable  to  support  themselves.  Pensions 
were  also  granted  to  widows,  minor  children,  and 
dependent  parents.  This  law  brought  in  an  enor- 
mous flood  of  claims,  in  passing  upon  which  it  was 
the  policy  of  the  Pension  Bureau  to  practice  great 
Indulgence.  In  one  instance,  a  pension  was  granted 
to  a  claimant  who  had  enlisted  but  never  really 
served  in  the  army  as  he  had  deserted  soon  after 
entering  the  camp.  He  thereupon  had  been  sen- 
tenced to  hard  labor  for  one  year  and  made  to  for- 
feit all  nay  and  allowances.    After  the  war  he  had 


'    if    fi 


,ii 


THE  REPUBLICAN  OPPORTUNITY      l.M 

been  convicted  of  horse  stealing  and  sent  to  the 
state  penitentiary  in  Wisconsin.    While  serving  his 
term  he  presented  a  pension  claim  supported  by 
forged  testimony  to  the  effect  that  he  had  been 
wounded  in  the  battle  of  Franklin.    The  fraud  was 
discovered  by  a  special  examine,  of  the  pension 
oflSce,  and  the  claimant  and  some  of  his  witnesses 
were  tried  for  perjury,  convicted,  and  sent  to  the 
state  penitentiary  at  Joliet,  Illinois.    After  serv- 
ing his  time  there,  he  posed  as  a  neglected  old  sol- 
dier and  succeedrH  in  obtaining  letters  from  sym- 
pathetic Congress^iien  commending  his  case  to  the 
attention  of  the  pension  office,  but  without  avail 
until  the  Act  of  1890  was  passed.     He  then  put  in 
a  claim  which  was  t^.  fee  rejected  by  the  pension 
office  examiners,  but  each  time  the  decision  was 
overruled,  and  in  the  end  he  was  put  upon  the  pen- 
sion roll.    This  case  is  only  one  of  many  made  pos- 
sible by  lax  metdods  of  investigating  pension  Wins. 
Senator  Gallinger  of  New  Hampshire  eve     aally 
said  of  the  effect  of  pension  policy,  as  shnped  by  his 
own  party  with  his  o«rn  aid: 


i    M 


-;    it   I 

5       ! 


If  there  was  any  soldier  on  the  Union  side  during  the 
Civil  War  who  was  not  a  good  soldier,  who  has  not  re- 
ceived a  pension,  I  do  not  know  who  he  is.  He  can  al- 
ways find  men  of  his  own  type,  equally  poor  soldiers. 


jV 


i 


i'. 


i   Vi 


f1 


S 


til 


'  *■ 


<'\    ! 


I! 


156 


THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 


who  would  swear  that  they  knew  he  had  been  in  a  hos- 
pital at  a  certain  time,  whether  he  was  or  not  —  the 
records  did  not  state  it,  but  they  knew  it  was  so -and 
who  would  also  swear  that  they  knew  he  had  received  a 
shock  which  affected  his  hearing  during  a  certain  battle, 
or  that  something  else  had  happened  to  him;  and  so  all 
those  pension  claims,  many  of  which  are  worthless,  have 
been  allowed  by  the  Government,  because  they  were 
"proved." 

The  increase  in  the  expenditure  for  pensions, 
which  rose  from  $88,000,000  in  1889  to  $159,000,- 
000  in  1893,  swept  away  much  of  the  surplus  in  the 
Treasury.    Further  inroads  were  made  by  the  en- 
actment of  the  largest  river  and  harbor  appropria- 
tion bill  in  the  history  of  the  country  up  to  this 
time.    Moreover  a  new  tariff  bill  was  contrived  in 
such  a  way  as  to  impose  protective  duties  without 
producing  so  much  revenue  that  it  would  cause 
popular  complaint  about  unnecessary  taxation.    A 
large  source  of  re-  lue  was  cut  off  by  abolishing 
the  sugar  duties  and  by  substituting  a  system  of 
bounties  to  encourage  home  production.    Upon 
this  bill  as  a  whole,  Senator  Cullom  remarks  in 
his  memoirs  that  "it  was  a  high  protective  tariff, 
dictated  by  the  manufacturers  of  the  country" 
who  have  "insisted  upon  higher  duties  than  they 
really  ought  to  have.''    The  bill  was,  indeed,  made 


THE  REPUBLICAN  OPPORTUNITY      157 

up  wholly  with  the  view  of  protecting  American 
manufactures  from  any  foreign  competition  in 
the  home  market. 

As  passed  by  the  House,  not  only  did  the  bill  ig- 
nore American  commerce  with  other  countries  but 
it  left  American  consumers  exposed  to  the  manipu- 
lation of  prices  on  the  part  of  other  countries. 
Practically  all  the  products  of  tropical  America 
except  tobacco  had  been  placed  upon  the  free  list, 
without  any  precaution  lest  the  revenue  thus  sur- 
rendered might  not  be  appropriated  by  other  coun- 
tries by  means  of  export  taxes.  Blaine,  who  w^ 
once  more  Secretary  of  State,  began  a  vigorous  agi- 
tation in  favor  of  adding  reciprocity  provisions  to 
the  bill.  When  the  Senate  showed  a  disposition  to 
resent  his  interference,  Blaine  addressed  to  Senator 
Frye  of  Maine  a  letter  which  was  in  effect  an  ap- 
peal to  the  people,  and  which  greatly  stirred  the 
farmers  by  its  statement  that  "there  is  not  a  sec- 
tion or  a  line  in  the  entire  bill  that  will  open  the 
market  for  another  bushel  of  wheat  or  another  barrel 
of  pork."  The  effect  was  so  marked  that  the  Sen- 
ate yielded,  and  the  Tariff  Bill  as  finally  enacted 
gave  the  President  power  to  impose  certain  duties 
on  sugar,  molasses,  coffee,  tea,  and  hides  imported 
from  any  country  imposing  on  American  goods 


1  •  • 


'  I 


i    t 

i.    I 


i        i 


•i  i 


U' 


'\iV 


S' 


A- 


r'tH 


oa 


IM 


dUi 


J  J* 


I. 


iH  I 


158  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

duties,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  President,  were 
"reciprocally  unequal  and  unreasonable."  This 
more  equitable  result  is  to  be  ascribed  wholly  to 
Blaine's  energetic  and  capable  leadership. 

Pending  the  passage  of  the  Tariff  Bill  the  Senate 
had  been  wrestling  with  the  trust  problem,  which 
was  making  a  mockery  of  a  favorite  theory  of  the 
Republicans.  They  had  held  that  tariff  protec- 
tion benefited  the  consumer  by  the  stimulus  which 
it  gave  to  home  production  and  by  ensuring  a  sup- 
ply of  articles  on  as  cheap  terms  as  American  labor 
could  afford.  There  were,  however,  notorious  facts 
showing  that  certain  corporations  had  taken  ad- 
vantage of  the  situation  to  impose  high  prices, 
especially  upon  the  American  consumer.  It  was 
a  campaign  taunt  that  the  tariff  held  the  people 
down  while  the  trusts  went  through  their  pock- 
ets, and  to  this  rharge  the  Republicans  found  it 
diflicult  to  make  a  satisfactory  reply. 

The  existence  of  such  economic  injustice  was  con- 
tinually urged  in  support  of  popular  demands  for 
the  control  of  corporations  by  the  Government. 
Though  the  Republican  leaders  were  much  averse 
to  providing  such  control,  they  found  inaction  so 
dangerous  that  on  January  14,  1890,  Senator  John 
Sherman  reported  from  the  Finance  Committee  a 


n  H 


THE  REPUBLICAN  OPPORTUNITY      159 

vague  but  peremptory  statute  to  make  trade  com- 
petition compulsory.  This  was  the  origin  of  the 
Anti-Trust  Law  which  has  since  gone  by  his  name, 
although  the  law  actually  passed  was  framed  by  the 
Senate  judiciary  committee.  The  first  section  de- 
clared that  "every  contract,  combination  in  the 
form  of  trust  or  otherwise,  or  conspiracy,  in  re- 
straint of  trade  or  commerce  among  the  several 
States,  or  with  foreign  nations,  is  hereby  declared 
to  be  illegal. "  The  law  made  no  attempt  to  define 
the  oflFenses  it  penalized  and  created  no  machinery 
for  enforcing  its  provisions,  but  it  gave  jurisdiction 
over  alleged  violations  to  the  courts  —  a  favorite 
congressional  mode  of  getting  rid  of  troublesome 
responsibilities.  As  a  result,  the  courts  have  been 
struggling  with  the  application  of  the  law  ever 
since,  without  being  able  to  develop  a  clear  or 
consistent  rule  for  discriminating  between  legal 
and  illegal  combinations  in  trade  and  commerce. 
Even  upon  the  financial  question  the  Republi- 
cans succeeded  in  maintaining  party  harmony, 
notwithstanding  a  sharp  conflict  between  factions. 
William  Windom,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
had  prepared  a  bill  of  the  type  known  as  a  "strad- 
dle." It  offered  the  advocates  of  free  coin;  ge 
the  right  to  send  to  the  mint  silver  bullion  in  any 


\A 


)   i  n 


I'  *T 


'     . 


>  i 


I      i! 
i       ( 

M 


ij 


i ' 


I    r. 


160  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

quantity  and  to  receive  in  return  the  net  market 
value  of  the  bullion  in  treasury  notes  redeemable  in 
gold  or  silver  coin  at  the  option  of  the  Government. 
The  monthly  purchase  of  not  less  than  $2,000,000 
worth  of  bullion  was,  however,  no  longer  to  be  re- 
quired by  law.  When  the  advocates  of  silver  in- 
sisted that  the  provision  for  bullion  purchase  was 
too  vague,  a  substitute  was  prepared  which  defi- 
nitely required  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to 
purchase  4,500,000  ounces  of  silver  bullion  in  one 
month.  The  bill  as  thus  amended  was  put  through 
the  House  under  special  rule,  by  a  strict  party  vote. 
But  when  the  bill  reached  the  Senate,  the  former 
party  agreement  could  no  longer  be  maintained, 
and  the  Republican  leaders  lost  control  of  the 
situation.  The  free  silver  Republicans  combined 
with  most  of  the  Democrats  to  substitute  a  free 
coinage  bill,  which  passed  the  Senate  by  forty- three 
yeas  to  twenty-four  nays,  all  the  negative  votes 
save  three  coming  from  the  Republican  side. 

It  took  all  the  influence  the  party  leaders  could 
exert  to  prevent  a  silver  stampede  in  the  House 
when  the  Senate  substitute  bill  was  brought  for- 
ward, but  by  dexterous  management  a  vote  of 
non-concurrence  was  passed  and  a  committee  of 
conference  was  appointed.   The  Republican  leaders 


THE  REPUBLICAN  OPPOETUNTTY     161 

now  found  themselves  in  a  situation  in  which  presi- 
dential non-interference  ceased  to  be  desirable,  but 
President  Harrison  could  not  be  stirred  to  action. 
He  would  not  even  state  his  views.  As  Senator 
Sherman  remarked  in -his  Recollections,  "The  situ- 
ation at  that  time  was  critical.  A  large  major- 
ity of  the  Senate  favored  free  silver,  and  it  was 
fea;ed  that  the  small  majority  against  it  in  the 
other  House  might  yield  and  agree  to  it.  The  si- 
lence of  the  President  on  the  matter  gave  rise  to 
an  apprehension  that  if  a  free  coinage  bill  should 
pass  both  Houses  he  would  not  feel  at  liberty  to 
veto  it." 

In  this  emergency  the  Republican  leaders  ap- 
pealed to  their  free  silver  party  associates  to  be 
content  with  compelling  the  Treasury  to  purchase 
4,500,000  ounces  of  silver  per  month,  which  it  was 
wrongly  calculated  would  cover  the  entire  output 
of  American  mines.  The  force  of  party  discipline 
eventually  prevailed,  and  the  Republican  party  got 
together  on  this  compromise.  The  bill  was  adopted 
in  both  Houses  by  a  strict  party  vote,  with  the 
Democrats  solidly  opposed,  and  was  finally  enacted 
on  July  14,  1890. 

Thus  by  relying  upon  political  tactics  the  mana- 
gers of  the  Republican  party,  were  able  to  reconcile 


',  /) 


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« 


16«  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

conflicting  interests,  maintain  party  harmony, 
and  present  a  record  of  achievement  which  they 
hoped  to  make  available  in  the  fall  elections.  But 
while  they  had  placated  the  party  faction  they  had 
done  nothing  to  satisfy  the  people  as  a  whole  or 
to  redress  their  grievances.  The  slowness  of  con- 
gressional procedure  in  matters  of  legislative  re- 
form allowed  the  amplest  opportunity  to  unscrupu- 
lous business  men  to  engage  in  the  meantime  in 
profiteering  at  the  public  expense.  They  were  able 
to  lay  in  stocks  of  goods  at  the  old  rates,  so  that  an 
increase  of  customs  rates,  for  example,  became 
an  enormous  tax  upon  consumers  without  a  corre- 
sponding gain  to  the  Treasury,  for  the  yield  was 
largely  intercepted  on  private  accounts  by  an 
advance  in  prices.  The  Tariff  Bill  which  William 
McKinley  reported  on  April  16,  1890,  became  law 
only  on  the  1st  of  October,  so  there  were  over  five 
months  during  which  profiteers  could  stock  at  old 
rates  for  sales  at  the  new  rates  and  thus  reap  a  rich 
harvest.  The  public,  however,  was  infuriated,  and 
popular  sentiment  was  so  stirred  by  the  methods  of 
retail  trade  that  the  politicians  were  both  angered 
find  dismayed.  Whene\  r  purchasers  complained 
of  an  increase  of  price,  they  received  the  apparently 
plausible  explanation,  "Oh,  the  McKinley  Bill  did 


THE  REPUBLICAN  OPPORTUNITY      163 

it."  To  silence  this  popular  discontent,  the  cus- 
tomary arts  and  cajoleries  of  the  politicians  proved 
for  once  quite  ineffectual. 

At  the  next  election,  the  Republicans  carried 
only  eighty-eight  seats  in  the  House  out  of  332  — 
the  most  crushing  defeat  they  had  yet  sustained. 
By  their  new  lease  of  power  in  the  House,  however, 
the  Democratic  party  could  not  accomplish  any 
legislation,  as  the  Republicans  still  controlled  the 
Senate.  The  Democratic  leaders  therefore  adopted 
the  policy  of  passing  a  series  of  bills  attacking  the 
tariff  at  what  were  supposed  to  be  particularly  vul- 
nerable points.  These  measures  the  Republicans 
derided  as  "pop-gun  bills,"  and  in  the  Senate  they 
turned  them  over  to  the  committee  on  finance  for 
burial.  Both  parties  were  rent  by  the  silver  is- 
sue, but  it  was  noticeable  that  in  the  House  which 
was  closest  to  the  people  the  opposition  to  the  sil- 
ver movement  was  stronger  and  more  effective 
than  in  the  Senate. 

Notwithstanding  the  popular  revolt  against  the 
Republican  policy  which  was  disclosed  by  the  fall 
elections  of  1890,  President  Harrison's  annual  mes- 
rage  of  December  9,  1891,  was  marked  by  extreme 
complacency.  Great  things,  he  assured  the  people, 
were  being  accomplished  under  his  administration. 


f    (i  fl 

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l«4  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

The  results  of  the  McKinley  BUI  "have  disap- 
pointed the  evil  prophecies  of  its  opponents  and  in 
large  measure  realized  the  hopeful  predictions  of  its 
friends."    Rarely  had  the  country  been  so  pros- 
perous.   The  foreign  commerce  of  the  United 
States  had  reached  the  largest  total  in  the  history 
of  the  country.    The  prophecies  made  by  the  anti- 
silver  men  regarding  disasters  to  result  from  the 
Silver  Bullion  Purchase  Act,  had  not  been  realized. 
The  President  remarked  "that  the  increased  vol- 
ume of  currency  thus  supplied  for  the  use  of  the 
people  was  needed  and  that  beneficial  results  upon 
trade  and  prices  have  foUowed  this  legislation  I 
think  must  be  clear  to  every  one. "    He  held  that 
the  free  coinage  of  silver  would  be  disastrous,  as  it 
would  contract  the  currency  by  the  withdrawal  of 
gold,  whereas  "the  business  of  the  worid  requires 
the  use  of  both  metals. "    While  "the  producers  of 
silver  are  entitled  to  just  consideration,"  it  should 
be  remembered  that  "bimetallism  is  the  desired 
end,  and  the  true  friends  of  silver  will  be  careful 
not  to  overrun  the  goal. "    In  conclusion  the  Presi- 
dent expressed  his  great  joy  over  "many  evidences 
of  the  increased  unification  of  the  people  and  of  the 
revived  national  spirit.    The  vista  that  now  opens 
to  us  is  wider  and  more  glorious  than  before. 


' 


4     s 


THE  REPUBLICAN  OPPORTUNITY      165 

Gratification  and  amazement  struggle  for  suprem- 
acy as  we  contemplate  the  population,  wealth,  and 
moral  strength  of  our  country." 

Though  the  course  of  events  has  yet  to  be  fully 
explained,  President  Harrison's  dull  pomposity 
may  have  been  the  underlying  reason  of  tb''  aver- 
sion which  Blaine  now  began  to  manifest.  Al- 
though on  Harrison's  side  and  against  Blaine,  Sen- 
ator CuUom  remarks  in  his  memoirs  that  Harrison 
had  "a  very  cold,  distant  temperament,"  and  that 
"he  was  probably  the  most  unsatisfactory  Presi- 
dent we  ever  had  in  the  White  House  to  those  who 
must  necessarily  come  into  personal  contpjt  with 
him."  Cullom  is  of  the  opinion  that  "jealousy 
was  probably  at  the  bottom  of  their  disaffection, " 
but  it  appears  to  be  certain  that  at  this  time  Blaine 
had  renounced  all  ambition  to  be  President  and 
energetically  discouraged  any  movement  in  favor 
of  his  candidacy.  On  February  6,  1892,  he  wrote 
to  the  chairman  of  the  Republican  National  Com- 
mittee that  he  was  not  a  candidate  and  that  his 
name  would  not  go  before  the  convention.  Presi- 
dent Harrison  went  ahead  with  his  arrangements 
for  renomination,  with  no  sign  of  opposition  from 
Blaine.  Then  suddenly,  on  the  eve  of  the  conven- 
tion, something  happened  —  exactly  what  has  yet 


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IW  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

to  be  discovered  --  which  caused  Blaine  to  resign 
the  office  of  Secretary  of  State.  It  soon  became 
known  that  Blaine's  name  would  be  presented,  al- 
though he  had  not  announced  himself  as  a  candi- 
date. Blaine's  health  was  then  broken,  and  it  was 
impossible  that  he  could  have  imagined  that  his 
action  would  defeat  Harrison.  It  could  not  have 
been  meant  for  more  than  a  protest.  Harrison  was 
renominated  on  the  first  ballot  with  Blaine  a  poor 
second  in  the  poll. 

In  the  Democraiic  convention  Cleveland,  too, 
was  renominated  on  the  first  ballot,  in  the  face  of 
a  bitter  and  outspoken  opposition.  The  solid  vote 
of  his  own  State,  New  York,  was  polled  against  him 
under  the  unit  rule,  and  went  in  favor  of  David  B. 
Hill.  But  even  with  this  large  block  of  votes  to 
stand  upon,  Hill  was  able  to  get  only  113  votes 
in  all,  while  Cleveland  received  616.  Genuine  ac- 
ceptance of  his  leadership,  however,  did  not  at  all 
correspond  with  this  vote.  Cleveland  had  come  out 
squarely  against  free  silver,  and  at  least  eight  of 
the  Democratic  state  conventions  —  in  Colorado. 
Florida,  Georgia,  Idaho,  Kansas,  Nevada,  South 
Carolina,  and  Texas  —  came  out  just  as  definitely 
in  favor  of  free  silver.  But  even  delegates  who 
were  opposed  to  Cleveland  and  who  listened  with 


.ti 


I 


THE  REPUBLICAN  OPPORTUNITY      187 

glee  to  excoriating'  speeches  against  him  forth- 
with voted  for  him  as  the  candidate  of  greatest 
popular  strength.    They  then  solaced  their  feel- 
ings by  nominating  a  free  silver  man  for  Vice- 
President,  who  was  made  the  more  acceptable  by 
his  opposition  to  civil  serv'  "  reform.     The  ticket 
thus  straddled  the  main  issue;  and  the  platform 
was  similarly  ambiguous.    It  denounced  the  Silver 
Purchase  Act  as  "a  cowardly  makeshift"  which 
should  be  repealed,  and  it  declared  in  favor  of  "the 
coinage  of  both  gold  and  silver  without  discrimina- 
tion," with  the  provision  that  "the  dollar  unit  of 
cuinage  of  both  metals  Uiust  be  of  ?qual  intrinsic 
and  exchangeable  value. "    The  Prohibition  party 
in  that  year  came  out  for  the  "free  and  unlimited 
coinage  of  silver  and  gold."    A  more  significant 
sign  of  the  times  was  the  organization  of  the 
"People's  party,"  which  held  its  first  convention 
and  nominated  the  old  Greenback  leader,  James 
B.  Weaver  of  Iowa,  on  a  free  silver  platform. 

The  campaign  was  accompanied  by  labor  dis- 
turbances of  unusual  extent  and  violence.  Shortly 
after  the  meeting  of  the  national  conventions,  a 
contest  began  between  the  powerful  Amalgamated 
Association  of  Steel  and  Iron  Workers,  the  strong- 
est of  the  trade-unions,  and  the  Carnegie  Company 


III 
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168  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

over  a  new  wa^e  scale  intiwluced  in  the  Homestead 
mills.    The  strike  began  on  June  29,  189«,  and 
local  authority  at  once  succumbed  to  the  strikers. 
In  ttnticipation  of  this  eventuality  the  company 
had  arranged  to  have  three  hundred  Pinkerton 
men  act  as  guards.    They  arrived  in  Pittsburgh 
during  the  night  of  the  5th  of  July  and  embarked 
on  barges  which  were  towed  up  the  river  to  Home- 
stead.   As  they  approached,  the  strikers  turned 
out  to  meet  them,  and  an  engagement  ensued  in 
which  men  were  killed  or  wounded  on  both  sides 
and  the  Pinkerton  men  were  defeated  and  driven 
away.    For  a  short  time  the  strikers  were  in  com- 
plete possession  of  the  town  and  of  tht  company's 
property.    They  preserved  order  fairly  well  ^ut 
kept  a  strict  watch  that  no  strike  breakers  should 
approach  or  attempt  to  resume  work.    The  gov- 
ernment of  Pennsylvania  was  for  a  time  completely 
superseded  in  that  region  by  the  power  of  t^ 
Amalgamated  Association,  until  a  large  force  of 
troops  entered  Homestead  on  the  12th  of  July 
and  remained  in  possession  of  the  place  for  several 
months.    The  contest  between  the  strikers  and 
the  company  caused  great  excitement  throughout 
the  country,  and  a  foreign  anarchist  from  New 
York  attempted  to  assassinate  Mr.  iVick,  the 


ir 


THE  REPUBLICAN  OPPORTUNITY      180 

managing  director  of  the  company.  Though  this 
ntrike  was  caused  liy  narrow  differences  concerning 
only  the  most  highly  paid  classes  of  workers,  it  con- 
tinued for  some  months  and  then  ended  in  the 
complete  defeat  of  the  union. 

On  the  same  day  that  the  militia  arrived  at 
Homestead  a  more  bloody  nnd  destructive  conflict 
occurred  in  the  Coeur  d'Al^ne  district  of  Idaho, 
where  the  workers  in  the  silver  mines  were  on  strike. 
Nonunion  men  were  imported  and  put  into  some 
of  the  mines.  The  strikers,  armed  with  rifles  and 
dynamite,  thereupon  attacked  the  nonunion  men 
and  drove  them  off,  but  many  lives  were  lost  in  the 
struggle  and  much  property  was  destroyed.  The 
strikers  proved  too  strong  for  any  force  which 
state  authority  could  muster,  but  upon  the  call  of 
the  Governor,  President  Harrison  ordered  federal 
troops  to  the  scene  and  under  martio?  law  order 
was  soon  restored. 

Further  evidence  of  popular  unrest  was  gi^  r  \  in 
August  by  a  strike  of  the  switchmen  in  the  Buf- 
falo railway  yards,  which  paralyzed  trarfic  until 
several  thousand  state  troops  were  put  on  guard. 
About  the  same  time  there  were  outbreaks  in  the 
Tennessee  coal  districts  in  protest  against  the  em- 
ployment of  convict  labor  in  the  mines.    Bands  of 


'    i 


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1.  i 


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'\ 


170  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

strikers  seized  the  mines,  and  in  some  places  turned 
loose  the  convicts  and  in  other  places  escorted  them 
back  to  prison.  As  a  result  of  this  disturbance, 
during  1892  state  troops  were  permanently  sta- 
tioned in  the  raining  districts,  and  eventually  the 
convicts  were  put  back  at  labor  in  the  mines. 

Such   occurrences  infused   bitterness  into  the 
campaign  of  1892  and  strongly  aflFected  the  election 
returns.     Weaver  carried  Colorado,  Idaho,  Kan- 
sas, and  Nevada,  and  he  got  one  electoral  vote  in 
Oregon  and  in  North  Dakota,  but  even  if  these 
twenty-two  electoral  votes  had  gone  to  Harrison 
he  would  still  have  been  far  behind  Cleveland,  who 
received  277  electoral  votes  out  of  a  total  of  444. 
Harrison  ran  only  about  381,000  behind  Cleveland 
in  the  popular  vote,  but  in  four  States  the  Demo- 
crats had  nominated  no  electors  and  their  votes 
had  contributed  to  the  poll  of  over  a  million  for 
Weaver.     The  Democratic  victory  was  so  sweeping 
that  it  gained  the  Senate  as  well  as  the  House,  and 
now  for  the  first  time  a  Democratic  President  was 
in  accord  with  both  branches  of  Congress.     It  was 
soon  to  appear,  however,  that  this  party  accord 
was  merely  nominal. 


\'i 


CHAPTER  IX 


THE    FREE    SILVER    REVOLT 


The  avenging  consequences  of  the  Silver  Purchase 
Act  moved  so  rapidly  that  when  John  GriflSn  Car- 
lisle took  office  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in 
1893  the  gold  reserve  had  fallen  to  $100,982,410  — 
only  $982,410  above  the  limit  indicated  by  the 
Act  of  1882  —  and  the  public  credit  was  shaken  by 
the  fact  that  it  was  an  open  question  whether  the 
government  obligation  to  pay  a  dollar  was  worth  so 
much  or  only  one  half  so  much.  The  latter  inter- 
pretation, indeed,  seemed  impending.  The  new 
Secretary's  first  step  was  to  adopt  the  makeshift 
expedient  of  his  predecessors.  He  appealed  to  the 
banks  for  gold  and,  backed  up  by  patriotic  exhor- 
tation from  the  press,  he  did  obtain  almost  twenty- 
five  millions  in  gold  in  exchange  for  notes.  But  as 
even  more  notes  drawing  out  the  gold  were  pre- 
sented for  redemption,  the  Secretary's  efforts  were 
no  more  successful  than  carrying  water  in  a  sieve. 

171 


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172  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

Of  the  notes  presented  for  redemption  during 
March  and  April  nearly  one-half  were  treasury 
notes  of  1890,  which  by  law  the  Secretai.    might 
redeem  "in  gold  or  silver  coin  at  his  discretion." 
The  public  was  now  alarmed  by  a  rumor  that  Sec- 
retary Cariisle,  who  while  in  Congress  had  voted 
for  free  silver,  would  resort  to  silver  payments 
on  this  class  of  notes,  and  regarded  his  statements 
as  being  noncommittal  on  the  point.     Popular 
alarm  was  to  some  extent  dispelled  by  a  state- 
ment from  President  Cleveland,  on  the  23d  of 
April,  declaring  flatly  and  unmistakably  that  re- 
demption in  gold  would  be  maintained.    But 
financial  situation  throughout  the  country  was 
such  that  nothing  could  stave  oflF  the  impending 
panic.    Failures  were  increasing  in  number,  some 
large  firms  broke  under  the  strain,  and  the  final 
stroke  came  on  the  5th  of  May  when  the  Nation- 
al Cordage  Company  went  into  bankruptcy.     As 
often  happens  in  the  history  of  panics,  the  event 
was  trivial  in  comparison  with  the  consequences. 
This  company  was  of  a  type  that  is  the  reproach 
of  American  jurisprudence  —  the  marauding  cor- 
poration.   In  the  very  month  in  which  it  failed  it 
declared  a  large  cash  dividend.    Its  stock,  which 
had  sold  at  147  in  January,  fell  in  May  to  below 


THE  FREE  SILVER  REVOLT  173 

ten  dollars  a  share.    Though  the  Philadelphia  and 
Reading  Railway  Company,  which  failed  in  Feb- 
ruary, had  a  capital  of  $40,000,000  and  a  debt  of 
more  than  $125,000,000,  yet  the  market  did  not 
break  completely  under  thrt  strain.    The  National 
Cordage  had  a  capital  of  $20,000,000  and  liabilities 
of  only  $10,000,000  but  its  collapse  brought  down 
with  it  the  whole  structure  of  credit,    A  general 
movement  of  liquidation  set  in,  which  through- 
out the  West  was  so  violent  as  to  threaten  general 
bankruptcy.     Nearly  all  of  the  national  bank  fail- 
ures were  in  the  West  and  South,  and  stul  more 
extensive  was  the  wreck  of  state  banks  and  pri- 
vate banks.     It  had  been  the  practice  of  country 
banks,  while  firmly  maintaining  local  rates,  to  keep 
the  bulk  of  their  resources  on  deposit  with  city 
banks  at  two  per  cent.    This  practice  now  proved 
to  be  a  fatal  entanglement  to  many  institutions. 
There  were  instances  in  which  country  banks  were 
forced  to  suspend,  though  cash  resources  were  ac- 
tually on  the  way  to  them  from  depository  centers. ' 
Even  worse  than  the  eflFect  of  these  numerous  fail- 
ures on  the  business  situation  was  the  derangement 

■  Out  of  158  national  bank  failures  during  the  year,  153  were  in  the 
West  and  South.  In  addition  there  went  down  172  state  banks,  177 
private  banks,  47  savings  banks,  13  loan  and  trust  companies,  and 
6  mortgage  companies 


\'\ 


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1. 


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f:    J   5 


174  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

which  occurred  in  the  currency  supply.    The  cir- 
culating medium  was  almost  wholly  composed  of 
bank  notes,  treasury  notes,  and  treasury  certifi- 
cates issued  against  gold  and  silver  in  the  Treasury, 
coin  being  little  in  use  except  as  fractional  cur- 
rency.   Bank  notes  were  essentially  treasury  cer- 
tificates issued  upon  deposits  of  government  bonds. 
In  effect,  the  circulating  medium  was  composed 
of  government  securities  reduced  to  handy  bits. 
Usually  a  bank  panic  tends  to  bring  note  issues 
into  rapid  circulation  for  what  they  will  fetch,  but 
in  this  new  situation  people  preferred  to  impound 
the  notes,  which  they  knew  to  be  good  vvii  itever 
happened  so  long  as  the  Government  held  out. 
Private  hoarding  became  so  general  that  currency 
tended  to  disappear.   Between  September  30, 1892, 
ar    Octooer  31, 1893,  the  amount  of  deposits  in  the 
uational  banks  shrank  over  $496,000,000.    Trade 
was  reduced  to  making  use  of  the  methods  of 
primitive  barter,  though  the  emergency  was  met 
to  some  extent  by  the  use  of  checks  and  clearing- 
house certificates.    In  many  New  England  manu- 
facturing towns,  for  example,  checks  for  use  in 
trade  were  drawn  in  denominations  from  one  dollar 
up  to  twenty.    In  some  cases  corporations  paid  oflF 
their  employees  in  checks  drawn  on  their  own 


.    V 


THE  FREE  SILVER  REVOLT  175 

treasurers  which  served  as  local  currency.  In  some 
Southern  cities  clearing-house  certificates  in  small 
denominations  were  issued  for  general  circulation 
—  in  Birmingham,  Alabama,  for  sums  as  small 
as  twenty-five  cents.  It  is  worth  noting  that  a 
premium  was  paid  as  readily  for  notes  as  for 
gold;  indeed,  the  New  York  Financial  Chroni- 
cle reported  that  the  premium  on  currency  was 
from  two  to  three  per  cent,  while  the  premium  on 
gold  was  only  one  and  one  half  per  cent.  Before 
the  panic  had  ended,  the  extraordinary  spectacle 
was  presented  of  gold  coins  serving  as  a  medi- 
um of  trade  because  treasury  notes  and  bank 
notes  were  still  hoarded.  These  peculiarities  of 
the  situation  had  a  deep  eflFect  upon  the  popular 
attitude  towards  the  measures  recommended  by 
the  Administration. 

While  this  devastating  panic  was  raging  over 
all  the  country.  President  Cleveland  was  beset 
by  troubles  that  were  both  public  and  personal. 
He  was  under  heavy  pressure  from  the  office  seekers. 
They  came  singly  or  in  groups  and  under  the  escort 
of  Congressmen,  some  of  whom  performed  such 
service  several  times  a  day.  The  situation  became 
so  intolerable  that  on  the  8th  of  May  President 
Cleveland  issued  an  executive  oi     i  setting  forth 


I  I 


'J        I 


iM 


iM 


i 


Wi 


176  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

that  "a  due  regard  for  public  duty,  which  must 
be  neglected  if  present  conditions  continue,  and 
an  observance  of  the  limitations  placed  upon  hu- 
man  endurance,  oblige  me  to  decline,  from  and 
after  this  date,  all  personal  interviews  with  those 
seeking  office. " 

According  to  the  Washington  papers,  this  sen- 
sible decision  was  received   with  a   tremendous 
outburst  of  indignation.      The  President  was  de- 
nounced for  shutting  his  doors  upon  the  people 
who  had  elected  him,  and  he  was  especially  severe- 
ly criticized  for  the  closing  sentence  of  his  order 
stating  that  "applicants  for  office  will  only  preju- 
dice their  prospects  by  repeated  importunity  and 
by  remaining  at  Washington  to  await  results." 
This  order  was  branded  as  an  arbitrary  exercise  of 
power  compelling  free  American  citizens  to  choose 
exile  or  punishment,  and  was  featured  in  the  news- 
papers all  over  the  country.    The  hubbub  became 
sufficient    to    extract    from    Cleveland's    private 
secretary  an  explanatory  statement  pointing  out 
that  in  the  President's  day  a  regular  allotment 
of  time  was  made  for  congressional  and  business 
caUers  other  than  the  office  seekers,  for  whom  a 
personal  interview  was  of  no  value  since  the  details 
of  their  cases  could  not  be  remembered.    "What 


'i 


THE  FREE  SILVER  REVOLT 


177 


was  said  in  behalf  of  one  man  was  driven  out  of 
mind  by  the  remarks  of  the  next  man  in  Une," 
whereas  testimonials  sent  through  the  mails  went 
on  file  and  received  due  consideration.  "  So  many 
hours  a  day  having  been  gi\  cr  up  to  the  reception 
of  visitors,  it  has  been  necessary,  in  order  to  keep 
up  with  the  current  work,  for  the  President  to  keep 
at  his  desk  from  early  in  the  morning  into  the  small 
hours  of  the  next  morning.  Now  that  may  do  for  a 
week  or  for  a  month,  but  there  is  a  limit  to  human 
physical  endurance,  and  it  has  about  been  reached." 
Such  were  the  distracting  conditions  under 
which  President  Cleveland  had  to  deal  with  the 
tremendous  difficulties  of  national  import  which 
beset  him.  There  were  allusions  in  his  inaugural 
address  which  showed  how  keenly  he  felt  the 
weight  of  his  many  responsibilities,  and  there  is  a 
touch  of  pathos  in  his  remark  that  he  took  "much 
comfort  in  remembering  that  my  countrymen  are 
just  and  generous,  and  in  the  assurance  that  they 
will  not  condemn  those  who  by  sincere  devotion  to 
their  service  deserve  their  forbearance  and  ap- 
proval." This  hope  of  Cleveland's  was  eventually 
justifiea  but  not  until  after  his  public  career  had 
ended;  meanwhile  he  had  to  undergo  a  storm  of 
censure  so  blasting  that  it  was  more  like  a  volcanic 


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178  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

rain  of  fire  and  lava  than  my  ordinary  tempest, 
however  violent. 

On  the  30th  of  June  President  Clevel'-  !  called 
an  extra  session  of  Congress  for  the  '  .  August 
"to  the  end  that  the  people  may  be  relieved 
through  legislation  from  present  and  impending 
danger  and  distress."  In  recent  years  the  fact 
has  come  to  light  that  his  health  was  at  that  time 
in  a  condition  so  precarious  that  it  would  have 
caused  wild  excitement  had  the  truth  become 
known,  for  only  his  life  stood  in  the  way  of  a  free 
silver  President.  On  the  same  day  on  which  he 
issued  his  call  for  the  extra  session.  President 
Cleveland  left  for  New  York  ostensibly  for  a  yacht- 
ing trip,  but  while  the  yacht  was  steaming  slowly 
up  the  East  River,  he  was  in  the  hands  of  surgeons 
who  removed  the  entire  left  upper  jaw.  On  the 
5  th  of  July  they  performed  another  operation  in 
the  same  region  for  the  removal  of  any  tissues 
which  might  possibly  have  been  infected.  These 
operations  were  so  completely  successful  that  the 
President  was  fitted  with  an  artificial  jaw  of  vul- 
canized rubber  which  enabled  him  to  speak  without 
any  impairment  of  the  strength  and  clearness  of 
his  voice.'  Immediately  after  this  severe  trial, 
'  For  details,  see  New  York  Timet,  Sept.  21, 1917. 


tJi 


THE  FREE  SILVER  REVOLT  179 

which  he  bore  with  calm  fortitude,  Cleveland  had 
to  battle  with  the  raging  silver  faction,  strong 
in  its  legislative  position  through  its  control  of 
the  Senate. 

When  Congress  met,  the  only  legislation  which 
the  President  had  to  propose  was  the  repeal  of  the 
Silver  Purchase  Act,  although  he  remarked  that 
"tariff  reform  has  lost  nothing  of  its  immediate 
and  permanent  importance  and  must  in  the  near 
future  engage  the  attention  of  Congiess."  It  was 
a  natural  inference,  therefore,  that  the  Administra- 
tion had  no  financial  policy  beyond  putting  a  stop 
to  treasury  purchases  of  silver,  and  there  was  a 
vehement  outcry  against  an  action  which  seemed 
to  strike  against  the  only  visible  source  of  addi- 
tional currency.  President  Cleveland  was  even  de- 
nounced as  a  tool  of  Wall  Street,  and  the  panic 
was  declared  to  be  the  result  of  a  plot  of  British 
and  American  bankers  against  silver. 

Nevertheless,  on  the  28th  of  August,  the  House 
passed  a  repeal  bill  by  a  vote  of  240  to  110.  There 
was  a  long  and  violent  struggle  in  the  Senate, 
where  such  representative  anomalies  existed  that 
Nevada  with  a  population  of  45,761  had  the  same 
voting  power  as  New  York  with  5,997,853.  Hence 
at  first  it  looked  as  if  the  passage  of  a  repeal  bill 


!  1 


s  ' 


4    - 


180  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

might  be  impossible.    Finally  the  habit  of  com- 
promise prevailed  and  a  majority  agreement  was 
reached  postponing  the  date  of  repeal  for  twelve  or 
eighteen  months  during  which  the  treasury  stock  of 
silver  bullion  was  to  be  turned  into  coin.    Cleve- 
land made  it  known  that  lie  would  not  consent  to 
such  an  arrangement,  and  the  issue  was  thereafter 
narrowed  to  that  of  unconditional  repeal  of  the 
Silver  Purchase  Act.  The  Senators  from  the  silver- 
mining  States  carried  on  an  obstinate  filibuster 
and  refused  to  allow  the  question  to  come  to  a  vote, 
until  their  arrogance  was  gradually  toned  down 
by  the  discovery  that  the  liberty  to  dump  silver 
on  the  Treasury  had  become  a  precarious  min- 
ing asset.     The  law  provided  for  the  purchase  of 
4,500,000  ounces  a  month,  "or,  so  much  thereof  as 
may  be  offered  at  the  market  price. "    Secretary 
Carlisle  found  that  offers  were  frequently  higher 
in  price  than  New  York  and  London  quotations, 
and  by  rejecting  them  he  made  a  considerable  re- 
duction in  the  amount  purchased.    Moreover,  the 
silver  ranks  began  to  divide  on  the  question  of 
policy.    The  Democratic  silver  Senators  wished 
to  enlarge  the  circulating  medium  by  increasing 
the  amount  of  coinage,  and  they  did  not  feel  the 
same  interest  in  the  mere  stacking  of  bullion  in  the 


.  \ 


THE  FREE  SILVER  REVOLT  181 

Treasury  that  possessed  the  mining  ramp  Senators 
on  the  Republican  sivle.  When  these  two  elements 
separated  on  the  question  of  policy  the  representa- 
tives of  the  mining  interests  recognized  the  hajx'- 
lessness  of  preventing  a  vote  upon  the  proposed 
repeal  of  the  silver  purchase  act.  On  ine  30th  of 
October  the  Senate  passed  the  repeal  with  no 
essential  difference  from  the  House  bill,  und  the 
bill  became  law  on  November  1,  1893. 

But  although  the  repeal  bill  stopped  the  silver 
drain  upon  the  Treasury,  it  did  not  relieve  the  empty 
condition  to  which  the  Treasury  had  been  reduced. 
It  was  manifest  that,  if  the  gold  standard  was  to  be 
maintained,  the  Treasury  stock  of  gold  would  have 
to  be  replenished.  The  Specie  Resumption  Act  of 
1875  authorized  the  sale  of  bonds  "to  prepare  and 
provide  for"  rec''imption  of  notes  in  coin,  but  the 
only  classes  of  bonds  which  it  authorized  were  those 
at  four  per  cent  payable  after  thirty  years,  four 
and  a  half  per  cent  payable  after  fifteen  years,  and 
five  per  cent  payable  after  ten  years  from  date. 
For  many  years  the  Government  had  been  able  to 
borrow  at  lower  rates  but  had  in  vain  besought 
Congress  to  grant  the  necessary  authority.  The 
Government  now  appealed  once  more  to  Congress 
for  authority  to  issue  bonds  at  a  lower  rate  of 


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IM  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

int'  .St.  Carlisle,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
.tessed  a  letter  to  the  Senate  committee  of 
finance,  setting  forth  the  great  saving  that  would 
be  thus  effected.  Then  ensued  what  must  be 
acknowledged  to  be  a  breakdown  in  constitution- 
al  government.  Immediately  after  a  committee 
meeting  on  January  16,  1894.  the  Chairman,  Sena- 
tor Voorhces,  issued  a  public  statement  in  which 
he  said  that  '*  it  would  be  trifling  with  a  very  grave 
affair  to  pretend  that  new  legislation  concerning 
the  issue  of  bonds  can  be  accomplished  at  this 
time,  and  in  the  midst  of  present  elements  and 
parties  in  public  life,  with  elaborate,  extensive, 
and  practically  indefinite  debate. "  Therefore  he 
held  that  "it  will  be  wiser,  safer  and  better  for  the 
financial  and  business  interests  of  the  country  to 
rely  upon  existing  law. "  This  plainly  amounted 
to  a  public  confession  that  Conr."ss  was  so  or- 
ganized as  to  be  incapable  of  providing  for  the 
public  welfare. 

Carlisle  decided  to  sell  the  ten-year  class  of  bonds, 
compensating  for  their  high  interest  rate  by  exact- 
ing such  a  premium  as  would  reduce  to  three  per 
cent  the  actual  yield  to  holders.  On  January 
17,  1894,  he  offered  bonds  to  the  amount  of  fifty 
millions,  but  bids  came  in  so  slowly  that  he  found 


11 


THE  FREE  SILVER  REVOLT  183 

it  necewary  to  visit  New  York  to  make  a  personal 
appeal  to  a  number  of  leading  bankers  to  exert 
themselves  to  prevent  the  f;  ilure  of  the  sale.  As  a 
result  of  these  efforts  the  entire  issue  was  sold  at  u 
premiu»n  of  $8,6fi0,in7.  und  the  treasury  stock  of 
gold  was  brought  up  to  $107.440,80«. 

Then  foUoweti  what  is  probably  the  most  curious 
chapter  in  the  financial  history  of  modern  limes. 
Only  gold  was  accepted  by  the  Treasury  in  pay- 
ment of  bonds;  but  gold  could  be  obtained  by 
oftering  treasury  notes  for  redemption.    The  Act 
of  1878  expressly  provided  that,  when  redeemed, 
these  notes  "shall  not  be  retired,  canceled,  or 
destroyed,  but  they  shall  be  reissued  and  paid  out 
again  and  kept  in  circulation. "   The  Government, 
as  President  Cleveland  pointed  out,  was  "  forced  to 
redeem  without  redemption  and  pay  without  ac- 
quittance."   These  conditions  set  up  against  the 
Treasury  an  endl-ss  chain  oy  which  note  redemp- 
tions drained  out  the  gold  as  fast  as  bond  sales 
poured  it  in.    In  a  message  to  Congress  on  Janu- 
ary 28,   1895,  President  Cleveland  pointed  out 
that  the  Treasury  had  redeemec  more  than  $300,- 
000,000  of  its  notes  in  gold,  and  yet  these  notes 
were  all  still  outstanding     Appeals  to  Congress  to 
remedy  the  situation  proved  absolutely  fruitless. 


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11   '■■ 


184  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

and  the  only  choice  left  to  the  President  was  to 
continue  pumping  operations  or  abandon  the  gold 
standard,  as  the  silver  faction  in  Congress  desired. 
By  February  8,  1895,  the  stock  of  gold  in  the 
Treasury  was  down  to  $41,340,181.    The  Adminis- 
tration met  this  sharp  emergency  by  a  contract 
with  a  New  York  banking  syndicate  which  agreed 
to  deliver  3,500,000  ounces  of  standard  gold  coin, 
at  least  one  half  to  be  obtained  in  Europe.    The 
syndicate  was,  moreover,  to  "exert  all  financial  in- 
fluence  and  make  all  legitimate  efforts  to  protect 
the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  against  the  with- 
drawals of  gold  pending  the  complete  performance 
of  the  contract. " 

The  replenishing  of  the  Treasury  by  this  contract 
was,  however,  only  a  temporary  relief.  By  January 
6, 1896,  the  gold  reserve  was  down  to  $61,251,710. 
The  Treasury  now  offered  $100,000,000  of  the  four 
per  cent  bonds  for  sale  and  put  forth  special  efforts 
to  make  subscription  popular.    Blanks  for  bids 
were  displayed  in  all  post-offices,  a  circular  letter 
was  sent  to  all  national  banks,  the  movement  was 
featured  in  the  newspapers,  and  the  result  was  that 
4635  bids  were  received  coming  from  forty-seven 
States  and  Territories,  and  amounting  to  $526,- 
970,000.    This  great  oversubscription  powerfully 


THE  FREE  SILVER  REVOLT  185 

upheld  the  pubh'c  credit  and  thereafter  the  posi- 
tion of  the  Treasury  remained  secure,  but  alto- 
gether $262,000,000  in  bonds  had  been  sold  to 
maintain  its  solvent;,-. 

Consideratior  of  the  niaiwj  ement  of  American 
foreign  relation;  ciiiiinp  this  period  does  not  enter 
into  the  scope  ot  tills  ooc  k.  but  the  fact  should  be 
noted  that  the  anxieties  of  public  finance  were 
aggravated  by  the  menace  of  war. '  In  the  boun- 
dary dispute  between  British  Guiana  and  Vene- 
zuela President  Cleveland  proposed  arbitration, 
but  this  was  refused  by  the  British  Government. 
President  Cleveland,  whose  foreign  policy  was  al- 
ways vigorous  and  decisive,  then  sent  a  message 
to  Congress  on  December  17,  1895,  describing  the 
British  position  as  an  infringement  of  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  and  recommending  that  a  commission 
should  be  appointed  by  the  United  States  to 
conduct  an  independent  inquiry  to  determine  the 
boundary  line  in  dispute.  He  significantly  re- 
marked that  "in  making  these  recommendations 
I  am  fully  alive  to  the  responsibility  incurred  and 
keenly  realize  all  the  consequences  that  may  fol- 
low. "     The  possibility  of  conflict  thus  hinted  was 


'  See  The  Path  of  Empire,  by  Carl  Ilussell  Fish  (in  The  Chronicles  of 
America). 


.;i; 


\\ 


186  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

averted  when  Great  Britain  agreed  to  arbitration, 
but  meanwhile  American  securities  in  great  num- 
bers were  thrown  upon  the  market  through  sales  of 
European  account  and  added  to  the  financial  strain. 
The  invincible  determination  which  President 
Cleveland  showed  in  this  memorable  struggle  to 
maintain  the  gold  standard  will  always  remain  his 
securest  title  to  renown,  but  the  admiration  due 
to  his  constancy  of  soul  eannot  be  extended  to  his 
handling  of  the  financial  problem.    It  appears  from 
his  own  account  that  he  was  not  well  advised  as  to 
the  extent  and  nature  of  his  financial  resources. 
He  did  not  knc'  until  February  7,  1895,  when  Mr. 
J.  P.  Morgan  called  his  attention  to  the  fact,  that 
among  the  general  powers  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  is  the  provision  that  he  "may  purchase 
coin  with  any  of  the  bonds  or  notes  of  the  United 
States  authorized  by  law,  at  such  rates  and  upon 
such  terms  as  he  may  deem  most  advantageous  to 
the  public  interest. "      The  President  was  urged 
to  proceed  under  this  law  to  buy  $100,000,000  in 
gold  at  a  fixed  price,  paying  for  it  in  bonds.    This 
advice  Cleveland  did  not  accept  at  the  time,  but 
in  later  years  he  said  that  it  was  "a  wise  sugges- 
tion," and  that  he  had  "always  regretted  that  it 
was  not  adopted. " 


\4 


GBOVKR  CLEVELAND 
Photognph  by  L.  C.  Handy.  WMhington. 


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THE  FREE  SILVER  REVOLT  187 

But  apart  from  any  particular  error  in  the 
management  of  the  Treasury,  the  general  policy  of 
the  Administration  was  much  below  the  require- 
ments of  the  situation.  The  panic  came  to  an  end 
in  the  fall  of  1893,  much  as  a  great  conflagration 
expires  through  having  reached  all  the  material  on 
which  it  can  feed,  but  leaving  a  scene  of  desola- 
tion behind  it.  Thirteen  commercial  houses  out  of 
every  thousand  doing  business  had  failed.  With- 
in two  years  nearly  one  fourth  of  the  total  rail- 
way capitalization  of  the  country  had  gone  into 
bankruptcy,  involving  an  exposure  of  falsified  ac- 
counts sufficient  to  shatter  public  confidence  in  the 
methods  of  corporations.  Industrial  stagnation 
and  unemployment  were  prevalent  throughout  the 
land.  Meanwhile  the  congressional  situation  was 
plainly  such  that  only  a  great  uprising  of  public 
opinion  could  break  the  hold  of  the  silver  faction. 
The  standing  committee  system,  which  controls 
the  gateways  of  legislation,  is  made  up  on  a  sys- 
tem of  party  apportionment  whose  effect  is  to  give 
an  insurgent  faction  of  the  majority  the  balance 
of  power,  and  this  opportunity  for  mischief  was 
unsparingly  used  by  the  silver  faction. 

Such  a  situation  could  not  be  successfully  en- 
countered save  by  a  policy  aimed  distinctly  at 


V'tii 


188  THE  CLEVELAND  EIL\ 

accomplishing  a  redress  of  popular  Krievances. 
But  such  a  policy  President  Cleveland  failed  to 
conceive.  In  his  inaugural  address  he  indicated 
in  a  general  way  the  policy  pursued  throughout  hi 
term  when  he  said,  "I  shall  to  the  best  of  my 
ability  and  within  my  sphere  of  duty  preserve  the 
Constitution  by  loyally  protecting  every  grant  of 
Federal  power  it  contains,  by  defending  all  its 
restraints  when  attacked  by  impatience  and  rest- 
lessness, and  by  enforcing  its  limitations  and  res- 
ervations in  favor  of  the  states  and  the  people. " 
This  statement  sets  forth  a  low  view  of  govern- 
mental function  and  practically  limits  its  sphere 
to  the  office  of  the  policeman,  whose  chief  concern 
is  to  suppress  disorder.  Statesmanship  should  go 
deeper  and  should  labor  in  a  constructive  way  to 
remove  causes  of  disorder. 

An  examination  of  President  Cleveland's  state 
papers  show  that  his  first  concern  was  always  to 
relieve  the  Government  from  its  financial  embar- 
rassments, whereas  the  first  concern  of  the  people 
was  naturally  and  properly  to  find  relief  from  their 
own  embarrassments.  In  the  last  analysis,  the 
people  were  not  made  for  the  convenience  of  the 
Government,  but  the  Government  was  made  for 
the  convenience  of  the  people,  and  this  truth  was 


i~i 


THE  FREE  SILVER  REVOLT 


189 


not  suflScient'y  recognized  in  the  policy  of  Cleve- 
land's administration.  His  guiding  principle  wiis 
stated,  in  the  annual  message,  December  JJ,  1894, 
as  follows:  "The  absolute  divorcement  of  the 
Government  from  the  business  of  banking  is  the 
ideal  relationship  of  the  (lovernment  to  the  circu- 
lation of  the  curr  cy  of  the  country. "  That  ideal, 
however,  is  uti.it  : liable  in  any  civilized  country. 
The  only  great  state  in  which  it  has  ever  been  ac- 
tually adopted  is  China,  and  the  rt**ults  were 
not  such  as  to  commend  the  system.    The  policy 

ich  yields  the  greatest  practical  benefits  is  that 
which  makes  it  the  duty  of  the  Government  to 
supervise  and  regulate  the  business  of  banking  and 
to  attend  to  currency  supply;  and  the  currency 
troubles  of  the  American  people  were  not  removed 
until  eventually  their  Government  accepted  and 
acted  upon  this  view. 

Not  until  his  message  of  December  3,  1894,  did 
President  Cleveland  make  any  recommendation 
going  to  the  roo  of  the  trouble,  which  was,  after 
all,  the  need  of  adequate  provision  for  the  currency 
supply.  In  that  message  he  sketched  a  plan  de- 
vised by  Secretary  Carlisle,  allowing  national  banks 
to  issue  notes  up  to  seventy-five  per  cent  of  their 
actual  capital,  and  providing  also,  under  certain 


190  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

conditions,  for  the  issue  of  circulating  notes  by 
state  banks  without  taxation.    This  plan,  he  said, 
"furnishes  a  basis  for  a  very  great  improvement 
in  our  present  banking  and  currency  system." 
But  in  his  subsequent  messages  he  kept  urging 
that  "  the  day  of  sensible  and  sound  financial  meth- 
ods will  not  dawn  upon  us  until  our  Government 
abandons  the  banking  business."    To  effect  this 
aim,  he  urged  that  all  treasury  notes  should  be 
"withdrawn  from  circulation  and  canceled,"  and 
he  declared  that  he  was  "of  opinion  that  we  have 
placed  too  much  stress  upon  the  danger  of  con- 
tracting the  currency. "   Such  proposals  addressed 
to  a  people  agonized  by  actual  scarcity  of  currency 
w^re  utterly  impracticable,  nor  from  any  point 
of   V  ew  can  they  be  pronounced  to  ha\e  been 
sound  in  the  circumstances  then  existing.     Until 
the  banking  system  was  reformed,  there  was  real 
danger  of  contracting  the  currency  by  a  with- 
drawal of  treasury  notes.   President  Cleveland  was 
making  a  mistake  to  which  reformers  are  prone; 
he  was  taking  the  second  step  before  he  had  taken 
the  first.   The  realization  on  the  part  of  others  that 
his  efforts  were  misdirected  not  only  made  it  im- 
possible for  him  to  obtain  any  financial  legislation 
but  actually  fortified  the  position  of  the  free  silver 


THE  FREE  SIL^'ER  RE    3LT  191 

advocates  by  allowing  them  the  advantage  of  being 
the  only  political  party  with  any  positive  plans  for 
the  redress  of  popular  grievances.  Experts  became 
convinced  that  statesmen  at  Washington  were  as 
incompetent  to  deal  with  the  banking  problems  as 
they  had  been  in  dealing  with  reconstruction  prob- 
lems, and  that  in  like  manner  the  regulation  of 
banking  had  better  be  abandoned  to  the  States. 
A  leading  organ  of  the  business  world  pointed  out 
that  some  of  the  state  systems  of  note  issue  had 
been  better  than  the  system  of  isjiuing  notes 
through  national  banks  which  had  been  substituted 
in  1882,  and  it  urged  that  the  gains  would  exceed 
all  disadvantages  if  state  banks  were  again  allowed 
to  act  as  sources  of  currency  supply  by  a  repeal  of 
the  government  tax  of  ten  per  cent  on  their  cir- 
culation. But  nothing  came  of  this  suggestion, 
which  was,  indeed,  a  counsel  of  despair.  It  took 
many  years  of  struggle  and  more  experiences  of 
financial  panic  and  industrial  distress  to  produce 
a  genuine  reform  in  the  system  of  currency  supply. 
President  Cleveland's  messages  suggest  that  he 
made  up  his  mind  to  do  what  he  conceived  to  be  his 
own  duty  regardless  of  consequences,  whereas  an 
alert  consideration  of  possible  consequences  is  an 
integral  part  of  the  duties  of  statesmanship.    He 


I    ! 


am 


^ 


11 


H 


IM  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

persevered  in  his  pension  vetoes  without  making 
any  movement  towards  a  change  of  system,  and 
the  only  permanent  effect  of  his  crusade  was  an 
alt'Tation  of  procedure  on  the  part  of  Congress  in 
order  to  evade  t  he  veto  power.  Individual  pension 
bills  are  still  introduced  by  the  thousand  at  every 
session  of  Congress,  but  since  President  Cleve- 
land's time  all  those  approved  have  been  included 
in  one  omnibus  bill,  known  as  a  "pork  barrel  bill," 
which  thus  collects  enough  votes  from  all  quarters 
to  ensure  passage. 

President  Cleveland  found  another  topic  for 
energetic  remonstrance  in  a  system  of  privilege 
that  had  been  built  up  at  the  expense  of  the  post- 
oflBce  department.  Printed  matter  in  the  form  of 
books  was  charged  eight  cents  a  pound  but  in 
periodical  form  only  one  cent  a  pound.  This  dis- 
crimination against  books  has  had  marked  effect 
upon  the  quality  of  American  literature,  k)wering 
its  lone  and  encouraging  the  publication  of  many 
cheap  magazines.  President  Cleveland  gave  im- 
pressive statistics  showing  the  loss  to  the  Gov- 
ernment in  transporting  periodical  publications, 
"including  trashy  and  even  harmful  literature." 
Letter  mails  weighing  65,337,343  pounds  yielded 
a  revenue  of  $60,624,464.    Periodical  publications 


\ 


"i  is 


TIIE  FREE  SILVER  REVOLT  lOS 

weighinK  348,088.(^8  pounds  yifl.lnl  a  rt-vmur  of 
$2,09«,40.'J.  Clfvelarul's  agitation  of  the  suhjwt 
under  cornlilions  then  I'xistInK <ould  not.  however, 
have  any  practical  itrect  save  to  affront  an  influen- 
tial interest  abundantly  able  to  increase  the  Presi- 
dent's  difficulties  by  abuse  and  misrepresentation. 

•3 


CHAPTER  X 


LAW  AND  ORDER  UPHELD 


\      ■ 


While  President  Cleveland  was  struggling  with  the 
difficult  situation  in  the  Treasury,  popular  unrest 
was  increasing  in  violence.  Certain  startling  politi- 
cal developments  now  gave  fresh  incitement  to  the 
insurgent  temper  which  was  spreading  among  the 
masses.  The  relief  measure  at  the  forefront  of  Presi- 
dent Cleveland's  policy  was  tariff  reform,  and  upon 
this  the  legislative  influence  of  the  Administration 
was  concentrated  as  soon  as  the  repeal  of  the  Silver 
Purchase  Act  had  been  accomplished. 

The  House  leader  in  tariff  legislation  at  that 
time  was  a  man  of  exceptionally  high  character  and 
ability.  William  L.  Wilson  was  President  of  the 
University  of  West  Virginia  when  he  was  elected 
to  Congress  in  1882,  and  he  had  subsequently  re- 
tained his  seat  more  by  the  personal  respect  he 
inspired  than  through  the  normal  strength  of  his 
party  in  his  district.   The  ordinary  rule  of  seniority 

194 


LAW  AND  ORDER  UPHELD  195 

was  by  consent  set  aside  to  make  him  chairman  of 
the  Ways  and  Means  Committee.     He  aimed  to 
produce  a  measure  which  would  treat  existing  in- 
terests with  some  consideration  for  their  needs.    In 
the  opinion  of  F.  W.  1  aussig,  an  expert  economist, 
the  bill  as  passed  by       House  on  February  1 ,  1894, 
"was  simply  a  moderation  of  the  protective  duties  " 
with  the  one  exception  of  the  removal  of  the  duty  on 
wool.    Ever  since  1887  it  had  been  a  settled  Demo- 
cratic policy  to  put  wool  on  the  free  li.st  in  order  to 
give  American  manufacturers  the  same  advantage 
in  the  way  of  raw  material  which  those  of  every 
other  country  enjoyed,  even  in  quarters  where  a 
protective  tariff  was  stiflBy  applied. 

The  scenes  that  now  ensued  in  the  Senate  showed 
that  arbitrary  rule  may  be  readily  exercised  under 
the  forms  of  popular  government.  Senator  Mat- 
thew S.  Quay  of  Pennsylvania,  a  genial,  scholarly 
cynic  who  sought  his  ends  by  any  available  means 
and  who  disdained  hypocritical  pretenses,  made  it 
known  that  he  was  in  a  position  to  block  all  legis- 
lation unless  his  demands  were  conceded.  He  pre- 
pared an  everlasting  speech,  which  he  proceeded 
to  deliver  by  instalhnents  in  an  effort  to  consume 
the  time  of  the  Senate  until  it  would  become  nec- 
essary to  yield  to  him  in  order  to  proceed  with 


ii] 


■      ! 


} 


196  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

the  consideration  of  the  bill.  His  method  was  to 
read  matter  to  the  Senate  until  he  was  tired  and 
then  to  have  some  friend  act  for  him  while  he 
rested.  According  to  the  Washington  Star,  Sena- 
tor Gallinger  was  "his  favorite  helper  in  this,  for 
he  has  a  good  round  voice  that  never  tires,  and  he 
likes  to  read  aloud. "  The  thousands  of  pages  of 
material  which  Senator  Quay  had  collected  for  use 
and  the  apparently  inexhaustible  stores  upon  which 
he  was  drawing  were  the  subject  of  numerous  de- 
scriptive articles  in  the  newspapers  of  the  day. 
Senator  Quay's  tactics  were  so  successful,  indeed, 
that  he  received  numerous  congratulatory  tele- 
grams from  those  whose  interesx  .  ^  was  champion- 
ing. They  had  been  defeated  ;  e  polls  in  their 
attempt  to  control  legislation  defeated  in 

the  House  of  Representatives,  but  now  they  were 
victorious  in  the  Senate. 

The  methods  of  Senator  Quay  were  tried  by  other 
Senators  on  both  sides,  though  they  were  less  frank 
in  their  avowal.  After  the  struggle  was  over,  Sena- 
tor Vest  of  Missouri,  who  had  been  in  charge  of  the 
bill,  declared: 

I  have  not  an  enemy  in  the  world  whom  I  would  place 
in  the  position  that  I  have  occupied  as  a  member  of  the 
Finance  Committee  under  the  rules  of  the  Senate.    I 


if 


LAW  AND  ORDER  UPHELD  197 

would  put  no  man  where  I  have  been,  to  be  blackmailed 
and  driven  in  order  to  pass  a  bill  that  I  believe  is  neces- 
sary to  the  welfare  of  the  country,  by  Senators  who  de- 
sired to  force  amendments  upon  me  against  my  better 
judgment  and  compel  me  to  decide  the  question  whether 
I  will  take  any  bill  at  all  or  a  bill  which  had  been  dis- 
torted by  their  views  and  objects.  Sir,  the  Senate  "lags 
superfluous  on  the  stage"  today  with  the  American  peo- 
ple, because  in  an  age  of  progress,  advance,  and  ag- 
gressive reform,  we  sit  here  day  after  day  and  week  after 
week,  while  copies  of  the  census  reports,  almanacs,  and 
even  novels  are  read  to  us,  and  under  our  rules  there 
is  no  help  for  the  majority  except  to  listen  or  leave 
the  chamber. 

The  passage  of  the  bill  in  anything  like  the  form 
in  which  it  reached  the  Senate  was  pi  inly  im- 
possible without  a  radical  change  in  the  rules,  and 
on  neither  side  of  the  chamber  was  there  any  real 
desire  for  an  amendment  of  procedure.  A  number 
of  the  Democratic  Senators  who  believed  that  it 
was  desirable  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  business 
mterests  were  in  reality  opposed  to  the  House  bill. 
Their  efforts  to  control  the  situation  were  favored 
by  the  habitual  disposition  of  the  Senate,  when 
dealing  with  business  interests,  to  decide  questions 
by  private  conference  and  personal  agreements, 
while  maintaining  a  surface  show  of  party  con- 
troversy.   Hence  Senator  Gorman  of  Maryland 


\  • 


Ml 


li 


id 


l>    ^ 


198  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

was  able  to  make  arrangements  for  the  passage  of 
what  became  known  as  the  Gorman  Compromise 
Bill,  which  radically  altered  the  character  of  the 
original  measure  by  the  adoption  of  634  amend- 
ments. It  passed  the  Senate  on  the  3d  of  July  by 
a  vote  of  thirty-nine  to  thirty-four.  The  next  step 
was  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  conference 
between  the  two  Houses,  but  the  members  for  the 
House  showed  an  unusual  determination  to  re- 
sist the  will  of  the  Senate,  and  on  the  19th  of  July 
the  conferees  reported  that  they  had  failed  to 
reach  an  agreement.  When  President  Cleveland 
permitted  the  publication  of  a  letter  which  he 
had  written  to  Chairman  Wilson  condemning  the 
Senate  bill,  the  fact  was  disclosed  that  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Administration  had  been  used  to 
stiffen  the  opposition  of  the  House.  Senator  Ger- 
man and  other  Democratic  Senators  made  sharp 
replies,  and  the  party  quarrel  became  so  bitter 
that  it  was  soon  evident  that  no  sort  of  tariff  bill 
could  pass  the  Senate. 

The  House  leaders  now  reaped  a  gieat  advan' 
from  the  Reed  rules  to  the  adoption  of  which  they 
had  been  so  bitterly  opposed.   Availing  themselves 
of  the  effective  means  of  crushing  obstruction  pro- 
vided by  the  powers  of  the  Rules  Committee,  in 


LAW  AND  ORDER  UPHELD  199 

one  day  they  passed  the  Tariff  Bill  as  amended  by 
the  Senate,  which  eventually  became  iaw,  and  then 
passed  separate  bills  putting  on  tne  free  list  coal, 
barbed  wire,  and  sugar.  These  bills  had  no  effect 
other  than  to  put  on  record  the  opinion  of  the 
House,  as  they  were  of  course  subsequently  held 
up  in  the  Senate.  This  unwonted  insubordination 
on  the  part  of  the  House  excited  much  angry  com- 
ment from  dissatisfied  Senators.  President  Cleve- 
land was  accused  of  unconstitutional  interference 
in  the  proceedings  of  Congress;  and  the  House  was 
blaired  for  submitting  to  the  Senate  and  passing 
the  amended  bill  without  going  through  the  usual 
form  of  conference  and  adjustment  of  differences. 
Senator  Sherman  of  Ohio  remarked  that  "there 
are  many  cases  in  the  bill  where  enactment  was  not 
intended  by  the  Senate.  For  instance,  innumer- 
able amendments  were  put  on  by  Senators  on  both 
sides  of  the  chamber  ...  to  give  the  Committee 
of  Conference  a  chance  to  think  of  the  matter, 
and  they  are  all  adopted,  whatever  may  be  their 
language  or  the  incongruity  with  other  parts  of 
the  bill." 

The  bitter  feeling  excited  by  the  summary  mode 
of  enactment  on  the  part  of  the  House  was  inten- 
sified by  President  Cleveland's  treatment  of  the 


■  I 


■Jii 


200 


THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 


measure.  While  he  did  not  veto  it,  he  would  not 
sign  it  but  allowed  it  to  become  law  by  expiration 
of  the  ten  days  in  which  he  could  reject  it.  He  set 
forth  his  reasons  in  a  letter  on  August  27,  1894,  to 
Representative  Catchings  of  Missouri,  in  which 
he  sharply  commented  upon  the  incidents  accom- 
panying the  passage  of  the  bill  and  in  which 
he  declared : 

I  take  my  place  with  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Democratic 
party  who  believe  in  tariflf  reform,  and  who  know  what 
it  is,  who  refuse  to  accept  the  result  embodied  in  this 
bill  as  the  close  of  the  war,  who  are  not  blinded  to  the 
fact  that  the  livery  of  Democratic  tariff  reform  has  been 
stolen  and  used  in  the  service  of  Republican  protection, 
and  who  have  marked  the  places  where  the  deadly  blight 
of  treason  has  blasted  the  counsels  of  the  brave  in  their 
hour  of  might. 

The  letter  was  written  throughout  with  a  fervor 
rare  in  President  Cleveland's  papers,  and  it  had  a 
scorching  effect.  Senator  Gorman  and  some  other 
Democratic  Senators  lost  their  seats  as  soon  as  the 
people  had  a  chance  to  express  their  will. 

The  circumstances  of  the  tariff  struggle  greatly 
increased  popular  discontent  with  the  way  in  which 
the  government  of  the  country  was  being  con- 
ducted at  Washington.  It  became  a  common  belief 
that  the  actual  system  of  government  was  that  the 


«:;s 


LAW  AND  ORDER  UPHELD  801 

trusts  paid  the  campaign  expenses  of  the  politicians 
and  in  return  the  politicians  allowed  the  trusts  to 
frame  the  tariff  schedules.  Evidence  in  support  of 
this  view  was  furnished  by  testimony  tiken  in  the 
investigation  of  the  sugar  scandal  in  the  summer  of 
1894.  Charges  had  been  made  in  the  newspapers 
that  some  Senators  had  speculated  in  sugar  stocks 
during  the  time  when  they  were  engaged  in  legis- 
lation affecting  the  value  of  those  stocks.  Some  of 
them  admitted  the  fact  of  stock  purchases  but 
denied  that  their  legislative  action  had  been  guided 
by  their  investments.  In  the  course  of  the  inves- 
tigation, H,  O.  Havemeyer,  the  head  of  the  Sugar 
Trust,  admitted  that  it  was  the  practice  to  sub- 
sidize party  management.  "  It  is  my  impression, " 
he  said,  "that  whenever  there  is  a  dominant  party, 
wherever  the  majority  is  large,  that  is  the  party 
that  gets  the  contribution  because  that  is  the  party 
which  controls  the  local  matters. "  He  explained 
that  this  system  was  carried  on  because  the  com- 
pany had  large  interests  which  needed  protection, 
and  he  declared  "every  individual  and  corporation 
and  firm,  trust,  or  whatever  j  ou  cail  it,  does  these 
things  and  we  do  them. " 

During  the  tariff  struggle  a  movement  took 
place  which  was  an  evidence  of  popular  discontent 


802  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

of  another  sort.   At  first  it  caused  great  uneasiness, 
but  eventually  the  manifestation  became  more 
grotesque  than  alarming.    Jacob  S.  Coxey  of  Mas- 
sillon,  Ohio,  a  smart  specimen  of  the  American 
type  of  handy  business  man,  announced  that  he 
intended  to  send  a  petition  to  Washington  wearing 
boots  so  that  it  could  not  be  conveniently  shelved 
by  being  stuck  away  in  a  pigeonhole.    He  there- 
upon proceeded  to  lead  a  march  of  the  unemployed, 
which  started  from  Massillon  on  March  25,  1894, 
with  about  one  hundred  men  in  the  ranks.    These 
crusaders  Coxey  described  as  the  "Army  of  the 
Commonweal  of  Christ,"  and  their  purpose  was  to 
proclaim  the  wants  of  the  people  on  the  steps  of 
the  Capitol  on  the  1st  of  May.    The  leader  of  this 
band  called  upon  the  honest  working  classes  to 
join  him,  and  he  gained  recruits  as  he  advanced. 
Similar  movements  started  in  the  Western  States. 
"The  United  States  Industrial  Army,"  headed  by 
one  Frye,  started  from  Los  Angeles  and  at  one  time 
numbered  from  six  to  eight  hundred  men;  they 
reached  St.  Louis  by  swarming  on  the  freight  trains 
of  the  Southern  Pacific  road  and  thereafter  con- 
tinued on  foot.    A  band  under  a  leader  named 
Kelly  started  from  San  Francisco  on  the  4th  of 
April  and  by  commandeering  freight  trains  reached 


LAW  AND  ORDER  UPHELD  803 

Council  BluflPs,  Iowa,  whence  they  marched  to  Des 
Moines.  There  they  went  into  camp,  with  at  one 
time  as  many  as  twelve  hundred  men.  They  even- 
tually obtained  flatboats,  on  which  they  floated 
down  the  Mist,issippi  and  then  pushed  up  the  Ohio 
to  a  point  in  Kentucky  whence  they  proceeded  on 
foot.  Attempts  on  the  part  of  such  bands  to  seize 
trains  brought  them  into  conflict  with  the  authori- 
ties at  some  points.  For  instance,  a  detachment  of 
regular  troops  in  Montana  captured  a  band  coming 
East  on  a  stolen  Northern  Pacific  train,  and  militia 
had  to  be  called  out  to  rescue  a  train  from  a  band 
at  Mount  Sterling,  Ohio. 

Coxey's  own  army  never  amounted  to  more  than 
a  few  hundred,  but  it  was  more  in  the  public  eye. 
It  had  a  large  escort  of  newspaper  correspondents 
who  gave  picturesque  accounts  of  the  march  to 
Washington;  and  Coxey  himself  took  advantage 
of  this  gratuitous  publicity  to  express  his  views. 
Among  other  measures  he  urged  that  since  good 
roads  and  money  were  both  greatly  needed  by 
the  country  at  large,  the  Government  should  issue 
$500,000,000  in  "non-interest  bearing  bonds"  to 
be  used  in  employing  workers  in  the  improvement 
of  the  roads.  After  an  orderly  march  through 
parts  of  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland,  in  the 


i  - 


Ml 


THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

course  of  which  his  men  received  many  donations 
of  supplies  from  places  through  which  they  passed, 
Coxey  and  his  army  arrived  at  Washington  on 
the  1st  of  May,  and  were  allowed  to  parade  to 
the  Capitol  under  police  escort  along  a  designated 
route.  When  Coxey  left  the  ranks,  however,  to  cut 
across  the  grass  to  the  Capitol,  he  was  arrested 
on  the  technical  charge  of  trespassing.  The  army 
went  into  camp,  but  on  the  12th  of  May  the  au- 
thorities forced  the  men  to  move  out  of  the  District. 
They  thereupon  took  up  quarters  in  Maryland  and 
shifted  about  from  time  to  time.  Detachments 
from  the  Western  bands  arrived  during  June  and 
July,  but  the  total  number  encamped  about  Wash- 
ington probably  never  exceeded  a  thousand.  Diffi- 
culties in  obtaining  supplies  and  inevitable  colli- 
sions with  the  authorities  caused  the  band  gradu- 
ally to  disperse.  Coxey,  after  his  short  term  in 
jail,  traveled  about  the  country  trying  to  stir  up 
interest  in  his  aims  and  to  obtain  pplies.  The 
novelty  of  his  movement,  howev  had  worn  oflF, 
and  results  were  so  poor  that  on  the  26th  of  July 
he  issued  a  statement  saying  he  could  do  no  more 
and  that  what  was  left  of  the  army  would  have  to 
shift  for  itself.  In  Maryland  the  authorities  ar- 
rested a  number  of  Coxey 's  "soldiere"  as  vagrants. 


LAW  AND  ORDER  UPHIILD  205 

On  the  11th  of  August  a  detachment  of  Virginia 
militia  drove  across  the  Potomac  the  remnants  of 
the  Kelly  and  Frye  armies,  which  were  then  taken 
in  charge  by  the  district  authorities.  They  were 
eventually  supplied  by  the  Government  with  free 
transportation  to  their  homes. 

Of  more  serious  import  than  these  marchings 
and  campings  as  evidence  of  popular  unrest  were 
the  activities  of  organized  labor  which  now  began 
to  attract  public  attention.  The  Knights  of  Labor 
were  declining  in  numbers  and  influence.  The  at- 
tempt which  their  national  officers  made  in  January, 
1894,  to  get  out  an  injunction  to  restrain  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  from  making  bond  sales  really 
facilitated  Carlisle's  eflPort  by  obtaining  judicial 
sanction  for  the  issue.  Labor  disturbances  now 
followed  in  quick  succession.  In  April  there  was  a 
strike  on  the  Great  Northern  Railroad  which  for  a 
long  time  almost  stopped  traffic  between  St.  Paul 
and  Seattle.  Local  strikes  in  the  mining  regions  of 
West  Virginia  and  Colorado  and  in  the  coke  fields 
of  Western  Pennsylvania  w^ere  attended  by  con- 
flicts with  the  authorities  and  some  loss  of  life.  A 
general  strike  of  the  bituminous  coal  miners  of  the 
whole  country  was  ordered  by  the  United  Mine 
Workers  on  the  21st  of  April,  and  called  out 


806  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

numbers  variously  estimated  at  from  one  hundred 
and  tvtr  v-fivc  thousand  to  two  hundred  thou- 
land;  h  ^  by  the  end  of  July  the  strike  had  ended 
in  a  total  f  liure. 


thero 
meni' 
which 
velop  M'  .  I  > 
Eug«-n     V 


lilv 


'rf» 


l.vurbances  that  abounded  throughout 
v,  re  overshadowed,  however,  by  a  Ire- 

n,.:g\c  which  centered  in  Chicago  and 

.  '  about  new  and  most  impressive  de- 

'  nntir,' '  .  ithority.    In  June,  1893, 

r       ,     ue  secretary-treasurer  of  the 


Brotlit  nuoo  "  -xiomotive  Firemen,  resigned  his 
office  ail  1  set  \>  organizing  a  new  general  union 
of  railroad  employ* vs  in  antagonism  to  the  Brother- 
hoods, which  were  separate  unions  of  particular 
classes  of  workers.  He  formed  the  American  Rail- 
way Union  and  succeeded  in  instituting  465  local 
lodges  which  claimed  a  membership  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand.  In  March,  1894,  Pullman 
Company  employees  joined  the  new  union.  On 
the  1 1th  of  May  a  class  of  workers  in  this  company's 
shops  at  Pullman,  Illinois,  struck  for  an  increase 
of  wages,  and  on  the  21st  of  June  the  officers  of  the 
American  Railway  Union  ordered  its  members  to 
refuse  to  handle  trains  containing  Pullman  cars 
unless  the  demands  of  the  strikers  were  granted. 
Although   neither   the  American   Federation  of 


t  « 


LAW  AND  ORDER  UPHELD  «07 

Labor  nor  the  Brotherhoods  endorst>d  this  sym- 
patht>tic  strikr.  it  soon  ftpread  over  a  vast  territory 
and  was  accompanied  by  .savage  rioting  and  bloody 
conflicts.  In  the  .suburb.s  of  Chicago  thi'  niob.M 
burned  numerous  cars  and  did  much  damage  to 
other  pro|)erty.  The  losses  inflictt>d  on  properly 
throughout  the  country  by  this  strike  have  been 
estimatwi  at  $80,000,000. 

The  strikers  were  undoubtedly  encouraged  in  re- 
sorting to  force  by  the  sympathetic  attitud*-  vhich 
Governor  Altgeld  of  Illinois  sbowed  towarc' .  the 
cause  of  labor.  The  Knights  of  Labor  and  other 
organizations  of  workingmen  had  passt^l  resolu- 
tions complimenting  the  Governor  on  his  pardon 
of  the  Chicago  anarchists,  and  the  American  Rail- 
way Union  counted  unduly  upon  his  support  in 
obtaining  their  ends.  The  situation  was  such  as 
to  cause  the  greatest  consternation  throughout  the 
country,  as  there  was  a  widespread  though  errone- 
ous belief  that  there  was  no  way  in  which  national 
Government  could  take  action  to  suppress  disorder 
unless  it  was  called  upon  by  the  Legislature,  if 
it  happened  to  be  in  session,  or  by  the  Governor. 
But  at  this  critical  moment  the  Illinois  Legislature 
was  not  in  session,  and  Governor  Altgeld  refused 
to  call  for  aid.    For  a  time  it  therefore  seemea  that 


M 


:j» 


«08  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

the  strikers  were  masters  of  the  situation  and  that 
law  and  order  were  powerless  before  the  mob. 

There  was  an  unusual  feeling  of  relief  throughout 
the  country  when  word  came  from  Washington  on 
the  1st  of  July  that  President  Cleveland  had  called 
out  the  regular  troops.    Governor  Altgeld  sent  a 
long  telegram  protesting  against  sending  federal 
troops  into  Illinois  without  any  request  from  the 
authority  of  the  State.    But  President  Cleveland 
replied  briefly  that  the  troops  were  not  sent  to  in- 
terfere with  state  authority  but  to  enforce  the  laws 
of  the  United  States,  upon  the  demand  of  the  Post 
OflBce  Department  that  obstruction  to  the  mails 
be  removed,  and  upon  the  representations  of  judi- 
cial oflicers  of  the  United  States  that  processes  of 
federal  courts  could  not  be  executed  through  the 
ordinary  means.    In  the  face  of  what  was  regarded 
as  federal  interference,  riot  for  the  moment  blazed 
out  more  fiercely  than  ever,  but  the  firm  stand 
taken  by  the  President  soon  had  its  effect.   On  the 
6th  of  July  Governor  Altgeld  ordered  out  the  state 
militia  which  soon  engaged  in  some  sharp  encoun- 
ters with  the  strikers.    On  the  next  day  a  force  of 
regular  troops  dispersed  a  mob  at  Hammond,  In- 
diana, with  some  loss  of  life.    On  the  8th  of  July 
President  Cleveland  issued  a  proclamation  to  the 


ll 


LAW  AND  ORDER  UPHELD  909 

people  of  Illinois  and  of  Chicago  in  particular, 
notifying  them  that  those  "taking  part  with  a 
riotous  mob  in  forcibly  resisting  and  obstructing 
the  execution  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States  .  .  . 
cannot  be  regarded  otherwise  than  as  public  ene- 
mies," and  that  "while  there  will  be  no  hesitji- 
tion  or  vacillation  in  the  decisive  treatment  of  the 
guilty,  this  warning  is  especially  intended  to  pro- 
tect and  save  the  innocent."  The  next  day  he 
issued  as  energetic  a  proclamation  against  "un- 
lawful obstructions,  combinations  and  assemblages 
of  persons"  in  North  Dakota,  Montana,  Idaho, 
Washington,  Wyoming,  Colorado,  California,  Utah, 
and  New  Mexico. 

At  the  request  of  the  American  Railway  Union, 
delegates  from  twenty-fi\  i-  unions  connected  with 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor  met  in  Chic'tjo 
on  the  12th  of  July,  and  Debs  made  an  ardent 
appeal  to  them  to  call  a  general  strike  of  all  labor 
organizations.  But  the  conference  decided  that 
"it  would  be  unwise  and  disastrous  to  the  interests 
of  labor  to  extend  the  strike  any  further  than  it  had 
already  gone"  and  advised  the  strikers  to  return  to 
work.  Thereafter  the  strike  rapidly  collapsed,  al- 
though martial  law  had  to  be  proclaimed  and,  be- 
fore quiet  was  restored,  some  sharp  conflicts  still 

»4 


210  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

took  place  between  federal  troops  and  mobs  at 
Sacramento  and  other  points  in  California.    On 
the  3d  of  August  the  American  Railway  Union 
acknowledged  its  defeat  and  called  off  the  strike. 
Meanwhile  Debs  and  other  leaders  had  been  under 
arrest  for  disobedience  to  injunctions  issued  by  the 
federal  courts.    Eventually  Debs  was  sentenced  to 
jail  for  six  months, '  and  the  others  for  three  months. 
The  cases  were  the  occasion  of  much  litigation  in 
which  the  authority  of  the  courts  to  intervene  in 
labor  disputes  by  issuing  injunctions  was  on  the 
whole  sustained.    The  failure  and  collapse  of  the 
American  Railway  Union  appears  to  have  ended 
the  career  of  Debs  as  a  labor  organizer,  but  he 
has  since  been  active  and  prominent  as  a  Socialist 
party  leader. 

Public  approval  of  the  energy  and  decision  which 
President  Cleveland  displayed  in  handling  the  situ- 
ation was  so  strong  and  general  that  it  momen- 
tarily quelled  the  factional  spirit  in  Congiess. 
Judge  Thomas  M.  Cooley,  then  probably  the  most 
eminent  authority  on  constitutional  law,  wrote 
a  letter  expressing  "unqualified  satisfaction  with 
every  step"  taken  by  the  President  "in  vindica- 
tion of  the  national  authority."    Both  the  Senate 

»  Under  Section  IV  of  the  Anti-Trust  Law  of  1890. 


LAW  AND  ORDER  UPHELD  211 

and  the  House  adopted  resolutions  endorsing  the 
prompt  and  vigorous  measures  of  the  Administra- 
tion. The  newspapers,  too,  joined  in  the  chorus 
of  approval.  A  newspaper  ditty  which  was  widely 
circulated  and  was  read  by  the  President  with 
pleasure  and  amusement  ended  a  string  of  verses 
with  the  lines: 

The  railroad  strike  played  merry  hob. 

The  land  was  set  aflame; 
Could  Grover  order  out  the  troops 

To  block  the  striker's  game.'* 
One  Altgeld  yelled  excitedly, 

"Such  tactics  I  forbid; 
You  can't  trot  out  those  soldiers, "  yet 

That's  just  what  Grover  did. 

In  after  years  when  people  talk 

Of  present  stirring  times. 
And  of  the  action  needful  to 

Sit  down  on  public  crimes. 
They'll  all  of  them  acknowledge  then 

(The  fact  cannot  be  hid) 
That  whatever  was  the  best  to  do 

Is  just  what  Grover  did. 

This  brief  period  of  acclamation  was,  however, 
only  a  gleam  of  sunshine  through  the  clouds  be- 
fore the  night  set  in  with  utter  darkness.  Rela- 
tions between  President  Cleveland  and  his  party 
In  the  Senate  had  long  been  disturbed  by  his 


'1' 


i, 


«12  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

refusal  to  pubmit  to  the  Senate  rule  that  nomina- 
tions to  oflSce  should  be  subject  to  the  approval  of 
the  Senators  from  the  State  to  which  the  nominees 
belonged.   On  January  15, 1894,  eleven  Democrats 
voted  with  Senator  David  B.  Hill  to  defeat  a  New 
York  nominee  for  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
President  Cleveland  then  nominated  another  New 
York  jurist  against  whom  no  objection  could  be 
urged  regarding  reputation  or  experience;  but  as 
this  candidate  was  not  Senator  Hill's  choice,  the 
nomination  was  rejected,  fourteen  Democrats  vot- 
ing with  him  against  it.    President  Cleveland  now 
availed  himself  of  a  common  Senate  practice  to  dis- 
comfit Senator  Hill.   He  nominated  Senator  White 
of  Louisiana,  who  was  immediately  confirmed  as  is 
the  custom  of  the  Senate  when  one  of  its  own  mem- 
bers is  nominated  to  office.    Senator  Hill  was  thus 
left  with  the  doubtful  credit  of  having  prevented 
the  appointment  of  a  New  Yorker  to  fill  the  va- 
cancy in  the  Supreme  Court.    But  this  incident 
did  not  seriously  affect  his  control  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  organization  in  New  York.    His  ad- 
herents extolled  him  as  a  New  York  candidate  for 
the  Presidency  who  would  restore  and  maintain 
the  regular  party  system  without  which,  it  was 
contended,  no  administration  could  be  successful  in 


LAW  AND  ORDER  UPHELD  218 

framing  and  carrying  out  a  definite  policy.  Hill's 
action  in  again  presenting  himself  as  a  candidate 
for  Governor  in  the  fall  of  1894  is  intelligible  only 
in  the  light  of  this  ambition.  He  had  already 
served  two  terms  as  Governor  and  was  now  only 
midway  in  his  senatorial  term;  but  if  he  again 
showed  that  he  could  carry  New  York  he  would 
have  demonstrated,  so  it  was  thought,  that  he 
was  the  most  eligible  Democratic  candidate  for 
the  Presidency.  But  he  was  defeated  by  a  plurality 
of  about  156,000. 

The  fall  elections  of  1894,  indeed,  made  havoc 
in  the  Democratic  party.  In  twenty-four  States 
the  Democrats  failed  to  return  a  single  member, 
and  in  each  of  six  others  only  a  single  district  failed 
to  elect  a  Republican.  The  Republican  majority 
in  the  House  was  140,  and  the  Republican  party 
also  gained  control  of  the  Senate.  The  Democrats 
who  had  swept  the  country  two  years  before  were 
now  completely  routed. 

Under  the  peculiar  American  system  which 
allows  a  defeated  party  to  carry  on  its  work  for 
another  session  of  Congress  as  if  nothing  had 
happened,  the  Democratic  party  remained  in  ac- 
tual possession  of  Congress  for  some  months  but 
could  do  nothing  to  better  its  record.    The  leading 


■r 


i! 


r 


ii  t 


r-  1 


* 


«14  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

occupation  of  its  members  now  seemed  to  be  the  ad- 
vocacy of  free  silver  and  the  denunciation  of  Presi- 
dent Cleveland.  William  J.  Bryan  of  Nebraska 
was  then  displaying  in  the  House  the  oratorical 
accomplishments  and  dauntless  energy  of  character 
which  soon  thereafter  gained  him  the  party  leader- 
ship. With  prolific  rhetoric  he  likened  President 
Cleveland  to  a  guardian  who  had  squandered  the 
estate  of  a  confiding  ward  and  to  a  trainman  who 
opened  a  switch  and  caused  a  wreck,  and  he  de- 
clared that  the  President  in  trying  to  inoculate 
the  Democratic  party  with  Republican  virus  had 
poisoned  its  blood. 

Shortly  after  the  last  Democratic  Congress  — 
the  last  for  many  years  —  the  Supreme  Court  un- 
did one  of  the  few  successful  achievements  of  this 
party  when  it  was  in  power.  The  Tariff  Bill  con- 
tained a  section  imposing  a  tax  of  two  per  cent  on 
incomes  in  excess  of  $4000.  A  case  was  framed  at- 
tacking the  constitutionality  of  the  tax, '  the  parties 
on  both  sides  aiming  to  defeat  the  law  and  framing 
the  issues  with  that  purpose  in  view.  On  April 
8,  1895,  the  Supreme  Court  rendered  a  judgment 
which  showed  that  the  Court  was  evenly  divided 
on  some  points.    A  rehearing  was  ordered  and  a 

'  Pollock  r.».  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust  Company,  157  U.  S.  429. 


LAW  AND  ORDER  UPHELD  215 

final  decision  was  rendered  on  the  20th  of  May. 
By  a  vote  of  five  to  four  it  was  held  that  the  in- 
come tax  was  a  direct  tax,  that  as  such  it  could  be 
imposed  only  by  apportionment  among  the  States 
according  to  population,  and  that  as  the  law  made 
no  such  provision  the  tax  was  therefore  invalid. 
This  reversed  the  previous  position  of  the  Court' 
that  an  income  tax  was  not  a  direct  tax  within  the 
meaning  of  the  Constitution,  but  that  it  was  an 
excise.     This  decision  was  the  subject  of  much 
bitter  comment  which,  however,  scarcely  exceeded 
in  severity  the  expressions  used  by  members  of  the 
Supreme  Court  who  filed  dissenting  opinions.   Jus- 
tice White  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  effect  of  this 
judgment  was  "to  overthrow  a  long  and  consistent 
line  of  decisions  and  to  deny  to  the  legislative  de- 
partment of  the  Government  the  possession  of  a 
power  conceded  to  it  by  universal  consensus  for  one 
hundred  years."    Justice  Harlan  declared  that  it 
struck  "at  the  very  foundation  of  national  au- 
thority "  and  that  it  gave  "to  certain  kinds  of  prop- 
erty a  position  of  favoritism  and  advantage  in- 
consistent with  the  fundamentxil  principles  of  our 
social  organization."    Justice  Brown  hoped  that 
"it  may  not  prove  the  first  step  towards  the 

•  Springer  m.  United  States,  102  U.  S.  586. 


i  lf 


i 

[il 

I?    "! 


i 

i 

f 

T 


216  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

submergence  of  the  liberties  of  the  people  in  a  sordid 
despotism  of  wealth. "  Justice  Jackson  said  it  was 
"such  as  no  free  and  enlightened  people  can  ever 
possibly  sanction  or  approve. "  The  comments  of 
law  journals  were  also  severe,  and  on  the  whole  the 
criticism  of  legal  experts  was  more  outspoken  than 
that  of  the  politicians. 

Public  distrust  of  legislative  procedure  in  the 
United  States  is  so  great  that  powers  of  judicial 
interference  are  valued  to  a  degree  not  usual  in  any 
other  country.  The  Democratic  platform  of  1896 
did  not  venture  to  go  farther  in  the  way  of  censure 
than  to  declare  that  "it  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to 
use  all  the  constitutional  power  which  remains  after 
that  decision,  or  which  may  come  from  its  reversal 
by  the  court  as  it  may  hereafter  be  constituted,  so 
that  1;  e  burdens  of  taxation  may  be  equally  and 
impartially  laid,  to  the  end  that  wealth  may  bear 
its  due  proportion  of  the  expenses  of  the  govern- 
ment." Even  this  suggestion  of  possible  future 
interference  with  the  court  turned  out  to  be  a 
heavy  party  load  in  the  campaign. 

With  the  elimination  of  the  income  tax  the  reve- 
nues of  the  country  became  insufficient  to  meet 
the  demands  upon  the  Treasury,  and  Carlisle  was 
obliged  to  report  a  deficit  of  $42,805,223  for  1895. 


LAW  AND  ORDER  UPHELD  217 

The  change  of  party  control  in  Congress  brought 
no  relief.  The  House,  under  the  able  direction  of 
Speaker  Reed,  passed  a  bill  to  augment  the  reve- 
nue by  increasing  customs  duties  and  also  a  bill 
authorizing  the  Secretary  of  the  TVeasury  to  sell 
bonds  or  issue  certificates  of  indebtedness  bearing 
interest  at  three  per  cent.  Both  measures,  how- 
ever, were  held  up  in  the  Senate,  in  which  the  silver 
faction  held  the  balance  of  power.'  On  February 
1, 1896,  a  free  silver  substitute  for  the  House  bond 
bill  passed  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  forty-two  to 
thirty-five,  but  the  minority  represented  over 
eight  million  more  people  than  the  majority.  The 
House  refused,  by  215  to  90,  to  concur  in  the 
Senate's  amendment,  and  the  whole  subject  was 
then  dropped. 

President  Cleveland  had  to  carry  on  the  battle 
to  maintain  the  gold  standard  and  to  sustain  the 
public  credit  without  any  aid  from  Congress.  The 
one  thing  he  did  accomplish  by  his  efforts,  and  it 

'  The  distributiou  of  party  strength  m  the  Senate  was :  Republicans, 
4S ;  Democrats,  39 :  Populists,  6.  Republicans  made  concessions  to  the 
Populists  which  caused  them  to  refrain  from  voting  when  the  question 
of  organization  wan  pending,  and  the  Republicans  were  thus  able  to 
elect  the  officers  and  rearrange  the  committees,  which  they  did  m  such 
a  way  as  to  put  the  free  silver  men  in  control  of  the  committee  on 
finance.  The  bills  passed  by  the  House  were  referred  to  this  committee, 
which  thereupon  substituted  bills  providing  for  free  coinage  of  silver. 


m^itm 


\*i 


i 


«18  THE  CLEVELAND  ERA 

was  at  that  moment  the  thing  of  chief  importance, 
was  to  put  an  end  to  party  duph'city  on  the  silver 
question.    On  that  point  at  least  national  party 
platforms   abandoned   their   customary   practice 
of  trickery  and  deceit.     Compelled  to  choose  be- 
tween the  support  of  the  commercial  centers  and 
that  of  the  mining  camps,  the  Republican  con- 
vention came  out  squarely  for  the  gold  standard 
and  nominated  William  McKinley  for  President. 
Thirty-four  members  of  the  convention,  including 
four  United  States  Senators  and  two  Representa- 
tives, bolted.   It  was  a  year  of  bolts,  the  only  party 
convention  that  escaped  being  that  of  the  Socialist 
Labor  party,  which  ignored  the  monetary  issue 
save  for  a  vague  declaration  that  "the  United 
States  have  the  exclusive  right  to  issue  money." 
The  silver  men  swept  the  Demwatic  convention, 
which  then  nominated  William  Jennings  Bryan  for 
President .  Later  on  the  Gold  Democrats  held  a  con- 
vention and  nominated  John  M.  Palmer  of  Illinois. 
The  Populists  and  the  National  Silver  party  also 
nominated  Bryan  for  President,  but  each  made  its 
own  separate  nomination  for  Vice-President .  Even 
the  Prohibitionists  split  on  the  issue,  and  a  seceding 
faction  organized  the  National  party  and  inserted 
a  free  silver  plank  in  their  platform. 


lAW  AND  ORDER  UPHELD  «10 

In  the  ^an^'asM  which  followed, cuhinmy  and  mij*- 
representation  were  for  onee  di.scurded  in  favor 
of  genuine  diseusHion.  This  new  attitude  waa 
largely  due  to  organizations  for  spreading  infor- 
mation quite  apart  from  regular  party  manage- 
ment. In  this  way  many  able  pamphlets  were 
issued  and  widely  circulated.  The  Republicans 
had  ample  campaign  funds;  but  though  the  Demo- 
crats were  poorly  supplied,  this  deficiency  did 
not  abate  the  energy  of  Bryan's  campaign.  He 
traveled  over  eighteen  thousand  miles,  speaking  at 
nearly  every  stopping  place  to  great  as.semblage8. 
McKinley  on  the  contrary  stayed  at  home,  al- 
though he  delivered  an  eflfective  series  of  speeches 
to  visiting  delegations.  The  outcome  seemed 
doubtful,  but  the  intense  anxiety  which  was 
prevalent  was  promptly  dispelled  when  the  elec- 
tion returns  began  to  arrive.  By  going  over  to  free 
silver  the  Democrats  wrested  from  the  Republicans 
all  the  mining  States  except  California,  together 
with  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  but  the  electoral  votes 
which  they  thus  St.>cured  were  a  poor  compensation 
for  losses  elsewhere.  Such  old  Democratic  strong- 
holds as  Delaware,  Maryland,  and  West  Virginia 
gave  McKinley  substantial  majorities,  and  Ken- 
tucky gave  him  twelve  of  her  thirteen  electoral 


I 
ft 


f 


««0  THE  CUEVELAND  ERA 

votes.  McKinley's  popular  plurality  wan  over 
six  hundred  thousand,  and  he  had  a  majority  of 
ninety-6ve  in  the  electoral  college. 

The  nation  approved  the  position  which  Cleve- 
land had  maintained,  but  the  Republican  party 
reaped  the  benefit  by  going  over  to  that  position 
while  the  Democratic  party  was  ruined  by  for- 
saking it.  Party  experience  during  the  Cleveland 
era  contained  many  lessons  but  none  clearer  than 
that  presidential  leadership  is  essential  both  to 
legislative  achievement  and  to  party  success. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 


Aituso  fpsncra]  histories  dealing  with  this  period  the 
leading  authority  is  D.  R.  Dewey,  National  Problems, 
1885-97  (1907)  in  The  Ameriran  Nation;  Imt  HUgges- 
tive  accounts  ii  ay  be  found  in  E.  B.  Andrews,  History 
of  the  Last  Quarter  of  a  Century  in  the  United  States 
(1896),  in  IL  T.  Peck,  Twenty  Year.'*  of  the  Republic 
(1918);  and  in  C.  A.  litmrd,  i  nnleir pnrory  Amcrir.an 
History  (1914). 

The  following  works  dealing  espcciaiiy  with  party 
management  and  congressional  procedtire  will  h*;  found 
serviceable:  E.  Stunwood,  History  of  the  Prcnidmcy 
( 1898) ;  M.  P.  Follett,  The  Speaker  of  the  Home  of  Jirpre- 
tentatires  (1896);  H.  J.  Ford,  The  Rise  and  Growth  of 
Ameriran  Politics  (1898);  H.  J.  Ford,  The  Cost  of  our 
National  Government  (1910);  S.  VV.  McCall,  The  Business 
of  Congress  (1911);  D.  S.  Alexander,  History  and  Pro- 
cedure of  the  House  of  Representatives  (1916) ;  C.  R.  Atkin- 
son, The  Committee  on  Rules  and  the  Overthrow  of  Speaker 
Cannon  (1911).  The  debate  of  1885-86  on  revision  of 
the  rules  is  contained  in  the  Congressional  Record,  49th 
Congress,  1st  session,  vol.  17,  part  i,  pp.  39,  71,  87, 102, 
129,  182.  216,  231,  239,  304. 

Of  special  importance  from  the  light  they  throw 
upon  the  springs  of  action  are  the  following  works: 
Grover  Cleveland,  Presidential  Problems  (1904) ;  F.  E. 

Ml 


W^M^- 


i 


«22 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 


Goodrich,  The  Life  and  Public  Services  of  Grover  Cleve- 
land (1884);  G.  F.  Parker,  The  Writings  and  Speeches  of 
Grover  Cleveland  (1892);  J.  L.  Whittle,  Grover  Cleveland 
(1896);  J.  G.  Blaine,  Political  Discussions  (1887);  E. 
Stanwood,  James  Gillespie  Blaine  (1905);  A.  R.  Conk- 
ling,  Life  and  Letters  of  Roscoe  Conkling  (1889);  John 
Sherman,  Recollections  of  Forty  Years  in  the  House, 
Senate,  and  Cabinet  (1895);  G.  F.  Hoar,  Autobiography 
of  Seventy  Years  (1903);  S.  M.  Cullom,  Fifty  Years  of 
Public  Service  (1911);  L.  A.  Coolidge,  An  Old-fashioned 
Senator:  Orville  ll.  Piatt  of  Connecticut  (1910);  S.  W. 
McCall,  The  Life  of  Thomas  Brackett  Reed  (1914);  A.  E. 
Stevenson,  Something  of  Men  I  Have  Known  (1909). 

For  the  financial  history  of  the  period,  see  J.  L.  Laugh- 
iin.  The  History  of  Bimetallism  in  the  United  States  (1997) ; 
A.  D.  Noyes,  Forty  Years  of  American  Finance  (1909); 
Horace  White,  Money  and  Banking,  Illustrated  by 
American  History  (1904). 

The  history  of  tariff  legislation  is  recorded  by  F.  W. 
Taussig,  The  Tariff  History  of  the  UniUd  States  (1914), 
and  E.  Stanwood,  American  Tariff  Controversies  in  the 
Nineteenth  Century  (1903). 

On  the  trust  problem  there  is  much  valuable  informa- 
tion in  W.  Z.  Ripley,  Trusts,  Pools,  and  Corporations 
(1905);  K.  Coman,  Industrial  History  of  the  United 
States  (1905);  J.  W.  Jenks,  The  Trust  Problem  (1905). 

The  conditions  which  prompted  the  creation  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  are  exhibited  in  the 
report  of  the  Senate  Select  Committee  on  Interstate 
Commerce,  Senate  Reports,  No.  46,  49th  Congress,  1st 
session. 

Useful  special  treatises  on  the  railroad  problem  are 
E.  R.  Johnson,  American  Railway  Transportation  (1903) ; 


'^ 


BIBUOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 


223 


B.  II.  Meyer,  Railway  Legislation  in  the  United  States 
(1003);  and  W.  Z.  Ripley,  Railway  Problems  (1907). 

The  hi.story  of  labor  movements  may  be  followed  in 
J.  R.  Commons,  History  of  Labor  in  the  United  Statts 
(1918);  M.  Ilillquit,  History  of  Socialism  in  the  United 
States  (1903);  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission,  vol. 
XVII  (1901);  and  in  the  Annual  Reports  of  the  United 
States  Commi.ssioner  of  Labor.  Congressional  inves- 
tigations of  particular  disturbances  produced  the  House 
Reports  No.  4174,  49th  Congress,  2d  .session,  1887,  on 
the  Southwestern  Railway  Strike,  and  No.  2447,  52d 
Congress,  2d  session,  1893,  on  the  Homestead  Strike. 

On  the  subject  of  pensions  the  most  comprehensive 
study  is  that  by  W.  H.  (llasson.  History  of  Military 
Pension  Legislation  in  the  United  States,  Columbia  Uni- 
versity Studies,  vol.  xii,  No.  3  (1900).  Of  special  interest 
is  the  speech  by  J.  II.  Gallinger,  Congressional  Record, 
65th  Congress,  2d  session,  vol.  oO,  No.  42,  p.  1937. 

Other  public  documents  of  si>ecial  importance  are 
Senate  Report,  No.  606,  53d  Congress,  concerning  the 
sugar  scandal,  and  Senate  Documents,  No.  187,  54th 
Congress,  2d  -session,  concerning  the  bond  .sales.  The 
Congressional  Record  is  at  all  times  a  mine  of  informa- 
tion. Valuable  historical  material  is  contained  in  the 
New  Princeton  Review,  vols,  i-vi  (1886-88),  the  New 
York  Nation,  the  Political  Science  Quarterly,  and  other 
contemporary  periodicals. 

A  vivid  picture  of  political  conditions  on  the  personal 
side  is  given  in  Sla.son  Thompson.  Eugene  Field  (1901), 
vol.  I,  chap.  10;  vol.  u,  chap.  8. 


■ 


111 


INDEX 


Asrieultural  Wheel.  146 

AUen,  L.  F.,  Cleveland  aa  private 
secretary  to,  iS-46;  American 
Short-Horn  Herd  Book.  45-4« 

AUentown  (Penn.)  Public  Build- 
ing Bill,  IK-M 

AUiaon.  W.  B..  12,  84 

Altgeld,  J.  P.,  Governor  of  Illi- 
noia,  pardons  anarchist  leaders, 
1S8;  and  Pullman  strike,  207- 
«08 

Amalgamate<i  A.ssociatiuii  of 
Steel  and  Iron  Workers,  167, 
168 

American  Bankers'  Association. 
convention  (1885),  US 

American  Federation  of  Labor, 
ISO,  13S;  and  Pullman  strike. 
Mfr-07,  «O0 

American  Railway  I  nion, 
formed,  S06;  and  I*uilman 
strike,  206-10 

Anti-Monopoly  party,  50,  14A 

Arbitration.  Industrial,  l.il 

Ariaona,  "Cowboy"  disturbam-p 
in  (1881),  27-29 

"Army  of  the  Commonweal  of 
Chnst,"  202 

Arthur.  C.  A.,  on  removal  ques- 
tion, 20;  succeeds  to  Presi- 
dency, 24;  charar-tcr  of  udruin- 
istretioa.  26-27.  38-S9;  Arizo- 
na "Cowboys,"  27-28;  vetoes 
OcMn  Travel  Bill,  30;  vetoes 
Chinese  Exclusion  Bill,  31; 
vetoes  River  and  Harbor  Bill, 
8t-33;  and  tariff,  ti3-3fi;  on 
reduction  of  taXM,  9S;  candi- 


date  for  renominatinn  (IH84), 
50 

Badeau,  Gemral  Adam,  consul 
general  at  London,  20 

Bayard.  T.  F.,  SecrcUry  of 
SUte,  149 

Bimetallism,  lee  Silver 

Birmingham  (Ala.),  clearing- 
house certificates  used  in, 
173 

Blaine.  J.  G.,  party  leader,  i,  12; 
on  election  abuses.  2;  candi- 
date for  Presidential  nomi- 
nation (1880).  16;  Secretary 
of  SUte.  18.  157;  and  Pan- 
American  Congress.  26;  nomi- 
nated for  Presidency  (1«84). 
50;  campaign,  52-53;  defeated. 
53;  as  Speaier.  102;  withdraws 
from  candidacy  for  nomination 
(1888),  148;  and  reciprocity. 
157;  withdraws  from  randi- 
•lacy  (1892),  165;  resign?  as 
SecrcUry  of  SUte,  165-«6 

Bland.  It.  P..  143 

Blount.  J.  II.,  of  Georgia,  99 

Brooklyn,  strikes  in.  129 

Brown,  Ju.stice  II.  B..  on  inromc 
tax.  215-16 

Bryan,  W.  J.,  on  Cleveland,  214; 
nominated  for  Presidency,  218; 
campaign.  219 
i    Bry^,  James,  .4  merican  Common- 
1       weaUh,  quoted.  8-9 
I    Buffalo,  strike  at,  160 
I   Burchard,  Rev.  S.  D.,  on  I)emo- 
!       cratic  party,  53 


226 


INDEX 


!  ^- 


Burke.  Edmund,  quoted,  41 
Butler.  General  B.  F..  candidate 
for  Presidency,  50 

Caldwell  (\.  J).  Grover  Cleve- 
land bom  at,  4S 
Calirornia,  election  of  1880,  18; 
Presidential   proclamation   to, 
SOU;     Republican     in     18B6, 
219 
Cannon,  J.  G.,  of  Illinois,  101 
Carlisle,  J.  G.,  Speaker  of  House. 
9i,  95.  103.  104.  105;  on  rules 
committee.    93; '  Secretary   of 
Treasury.   171;    and   gold  re- 
serve, 1 7 1  -7*.  182 ;  purchase  of 
silver,  180;  issues  bonds,  182- 
183;  bank  plan,  180-90;  reports 
de6cit.  216 
Carnegie  Company,  Homestead 

strike,  167 
Catchings,  of  Missouri,  Cleve- 
land's letter  to,  200 
Chicago,  Pullman  s  rike,  132, 
200-10;  International  Work- 
ing People's  Associationformed 
at,  137;  riot  of  May  4,  1885, 
137  38  j 

Chinese  exclusion,  31  ; 

Cincinnati,  labor  party  conven-   I 
tions  in,  147  I 

Civil  service,  Pendleton  proposes 
reform,  12,  13,  22;  Grant  and, 
14;  Commission.  22,  109; 
Cleveland's  policy,  109-12; 
National  Civil  Service  Reform 
League,  111 
Cleveland,    Aaron,    ancestor   of 

Grover,  43 
Cleveland,  Aaron,  son  of  Aaron, 

43 
Cleveland,  Grover,  40,  51,  214; 
rapid  rise,  42;  family,  42-44; 
named  Stephen  (Jrover,  43-44; 
early  life,  45;  as  a  lawyer,  4«; 
enters  public  life,  40-48;  (iov- 
ernor  of  New  York,  48-50; 
nominated  for  Presidency,  50; 
elected,    53;    situation    con- 


fronting,   53-58,    60-01;    ap- 
pointments,  59   ei  tea.,    108- 
109.  \75-77.  PretidcntialProb. 
lenn,  quoted,  60-61;  relations 
with  Senate,  62  ft  teq.,  211- 
812;    clash  with   Senate  over 
suspension  62-75;  message  on 
Tenure  of  Office  Act,  70,  116; 
dispute  with  Senate  over  fish- 
eries,   70-79;   and    F^munds. 
82;  belief  as  to  responsibility, 
82-83;  and  Civil  Service,  109- 
112;  and  pension  bills,  117-18, 
121-22;  vetoes,  118,  121,  123; 
marriage,  118-19;  and  finance, 
124-2.5, 183, 188-90;  and  tariff. 
121-25,  199-200;  vetoes  Allen- 
town     Public    Building    Bill, 
125-26;   and    industrial   arbi- 
tration, 131;  and  silver,  142- 
143,  166,  170,  180;  defeate.1  in 
1888,   149;  renominated.  106; 
elected,  170;  calls  extra  session 
of  Congress,  178;  health,  178; 
foreign  policy,   185;  and  pur- 
chase of  gold,    186;   message 
(1894),    189-90;     and    postal 
privilege,  192-93;  settles  Pull- 
man strike,  208.  210-11;  proc- 
lamations.  209;   bibliography. 
221-22  ^    H  ^ 

Cleveland,  Richard,  father  of 
Grover,  43 

Cleveland,  William,  grandfather 
of  Grover,  43 

CcFur  d'AI«ne  (Idaho),  strike  at, 
169 

Colorado,  for  free  silver,  16«; 
Weaver  carries,  170;  strikes  in. 
205;  Presidential  proclama- 
tion to,  209 

Congress,  bills  to  regulate  elec- 
tions, 5-8,  119;  failure  to  pro- 
duce statesmen,  10;  relation 
to  Administration,  11-12,  54- 
57;  Civil  Service  Commission 
created,  22;  limits  powers  of 
President, 27, 30;  Ocean  Travel 
Bill,    30;    Chinese   exclusion, 


INDEX 


2«7 


Congrem — CmtimiM 
SI;  Anti-Polygamy  Act.  31- 
32;  River  ami  Harbor  mil, 
3«-33,  156;  tariff,  30-38,  10.5- 
lOfl.  145,  U6-«7,  156-58.  UH. 
194-90;  party  fluctuation  in. 
39  (note);  Tenure  of  Office 
Act.  57.  6«,  70.  79-8«.  Ill): 
Cleveland  and  the  Senate. 
6i  el  »eq.\  secrecy  of  executive 
sessions.  83-85;  party  policy. 
80  li  seq. ;  proctxlure  and  rules, 
80  tt  teq.\  Presidential  .Suc- 
cession Act.  88,  100.  110; 
committee  system.  1)0-98;  In- 
terstate Commerce  Com- 
mission created.  106-07;  ()l«'o- 
marxarine  Act.  107;  and  Civil 
Service.  110;  pension  l>ills, 
117  18,  154-50;  Dependent 
Pension  Hill,  Wl-M.  154:  Al- 
lentown  PuMic  UluildinK  Dill, 
185-86;  silver,  144,  144.  159- 
101,  103;  Silver  Purchase  Act, 
14«,  171,  179-81;  Republican 
in  1889,  IJO;  Reed's  quorum- 
counting  rules.  151-58,  11*8: 
trust  problem.  1. '58-59;  special 
session,  178,  17!);  "pork  barrel 
bills,"  198;  Gorman  Com- 
proniiM*  iiill,  198;  endorses 
Cleveland's  action  in  regard  to 
strikes.  810-11;  {{publican 
in  1894.  81.'(;  income  ta\.  814; 
relief  measures  for  Treasury, 
817;  party  strength  in  Senate. 
817  (note) 

(.'onkling,  Rosooe,  of  New  ^  ork, 
14.  15-16,  18,  19-81 

Constitution.  1.^3-3.5;  rtriet  con- 
struction, l.'J4 

Cooley.  JudueT   M..  81" 

Coo|)er,    Peter,    Hewitt    Miii-in- 
lawof.  140 

Cooper  I  iiion.  New  York,  iii'-et- 
ing  in  honor  of  Mont,  1  ST 

Corn- Planters,  146 

Cornell,  A.  H  .  f  lovernor  of  Ne» 
York,  letter  to,  80 


(."oxey,   J.    S.,   army   of   unem- 

ployeil,  808-04 
Crittenden,  (Jovernorof  Missouri 

offers    reward    for  capture  of 

James,  89 
Cullom.  S.  M..  of  Illinois,  Fifty 

Yearn  of  Public  Serviee,  quote*!. 

118-14.  117.  187:  on  Harrison. 

105 
Curtis,  <;.  W..  Ill 

Uawes,  H.  L.,  of  Ma.ssachu.sctts, 

m 

Debs.  K.  \  .  8iNI.  800,  810 

Delaware,  McKinley  majority. 
819 

Democratic  party,  and  "solid 
South,  "  3,  defeats  Force  Hill. 
0;  nominates  Hancock,  17;  in 
Congress,  39  (note).  58,  (10. 
187.  170;  .state  elections.  40; 
nominates  Cleveland,  50:  Gor- 
man, chairman  of,  78;  and 
llous(.>  rules,  90:  factional  war, 
l();j;  and  Civil  S«'rvi<e,  110; 
and  tariff,  180,  W.i,  8(M):  and 
pensions.  181.  188;  and  elec- 
tion of  1888.  li:{-84;  nomi- 
nates Hewitt  in  New  York, 
140;  populist  movement,  U7- 
148;defeat(1888),  148;andfree 
silver,  100,  166.  818;  renomi- 
nates Clevelancl,  100;  victorv, 
170;  in  1894.  813;  income  tax, 
814;  platform  (1896),  816; 
nominates  Uryan,  818 

District  of  Columbia,  suffrage, 
116  (note) 

Douglass,  Fre<lerick,  115 

Kdniunds,  G.  F.,  of  Vermont,  7.3. 
71,  88,  84;  on  Cleveland's 
message,  71-78;  and  Tenure  of 
Office  Act,  79-81;  and  nomi- 
nation of  Fuller,  11.3-14 

Elections,  campaign  of  1880.  13- 
18;  of  1884,  50-53.  180;  of 
1888.  4.  146-49;  of  1898,  m")- 
107,  170;. .f  18!M{,  818-80 

Evarts.  W.  M,  81,84 


INDEX 


Formen'  Alliance,  146 
Federalut,  The,  on  reiiligibilJty  of 
President,  15  (note) ;  on  ambi- 
tion of  Congress.  64;  on  Sen- 
ate's advisory  power,  45 
Field.  Eugene,  quoted,  57-58 
Finance,   excess  of   revenue   in 
Treasury,  84;  war  taxes.  35, 
120;  greenlMck  issues  a  party 
measure,    41;    revenue    bills, 
50;      unused     appropriations 
turned     into     Treasury,     98; 
Cleveland's    message    (1887), 
12};  system  of  currency  sup- 
ply,   141-46;    panic,    178-75; 
si)ecie  llesumptiun  Act  (1875), 
181;   sale   of   bonds.    182-85. 
205,    t217;    bunking   problem, 
189-91;  income  tax.  214-16; 
Treasury  deficit,  216;  bibliog- 
raphy, 222;  nee  also  Gold  re- 
serve. Silver  Tariff 

Financial  Chronicle,  New  York, 
cited,  175 

Fish,  C.  It.,  The  Path  of  Empitf, 
cited,  77  (note).  185  (note) 

Fisheries,  Treaty  of  Washington. 
77;  commission,  78 

Florida  favors  free  silver,  166 

Folsom,  Frances,  marries  Grover 
Cleveland,  118-19 

Frick,  H.  ('.,  attempt  to  assassi- 
nate, 168-69 

Frye,  W.  P.,  of  Maine,  78.  84, 
157 

Fuller,  M.  W.,  of  Illinois,  1 1.1. 1 14 

Gallinger.  J.  H.,  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, quoted,  155-56,  196 

Garfield.  J.  A.,  nomination  for 
Presidency.  16-17;  election. 
18;  and  appointive  iK»wer  of 
President,  19;  assassination, 
21 ;  opposes  Greenback  Move- 
ment, 2S 

Garland,  A  H.,  Attorney-Gen- 
eral. 6S 

George,  Henry.  139-40;  PmgrrM 
and  Poierty,  189 


Georgia  favon  free  rilver,  106 
Gold  n»er<ie.  171 ;  effect  of  bond 

issue  on.  183;  Cleveland  and. 

186;  Morgan's  ■uggeation, 

186 
Gorman,  A.  P..  of  Maryland.  78. 

84.   200;   Compromise   Tariff 

Bill,  197-98 
Grangers,  146 
Grant,    I  J.    S.,    candidate    for 

renominatiou    (1880),    13-17; 

and  civil  service  reform,  14; 

and  Tenure  of  Office  Act.  57; 

removals,  61 
Great  Britain,  fisheries  question. 

77-78;  Guiana  and  Venezuela 

boundary  dispute,  185 
Great  Northern  Railroad  strike. 

205 
(ireenbackers,  146 

"Half-Brcedsy"  faction  <if  lie- 
publican  party,  18 

HanctK-k.  General  W.  S..  17 

Harlan,  Justice  J.  M.,  215 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  84;  election 
to  Presidency,  4,  \4'\  49; 
and  Congress,  150;  and  \:n- 
sions,  153;  message  (Ibill), 
163-65;  personal  character- 
istics, 165;  renominated,  166; 
orders  troops  to  Idaho,  169; 
defeated,  no 

Havemeyer,  H.  O..  201 

Ha.  ley.  J.  R.,  of  Connecticut,  84 

Hayes,  R.  B.,  advent  marks  end 
of  reconstruction,  1;  vetoes 
Silver  Purchase  Act,  142 

Hedden,  Collector  at  Port  of 
New  York,  109 

Henderson,  J.  S..  of  North 
Carolina.  103,  106 

Hewitt,  A  S.,  140 

Hill.  I).  B.,  of  New  York,  7; 
candidatefor  Presidential  nom- 
ination, 166;  and  Cleveland's 
appointees,  212;  candidate  for 
Governorship  of  New  'i^'ork, 
213 


INDEX 


«>29 


HiMock.  Prank,  of  New  York.  93 
Uoar.G.  V..  7;  Autobiography,  S; 
Election  Bill,  A-0;  un  Senate 
control  of  appointments,  19; 
on  (iarfield,  iH-H;  and  River 
and  Harbor  Hill.  33;  and  repeal 
of  Tenure  «if  Office  Art.  79-8(), 
81 ;  and  secrecy  rule.  H4 
Homestead  strike,  107-69 

Idaho,  favors  free  silver.  100; 
strike  in,  109;  Weaver  carries. 
170;  Presidential  proclamation 
to.«<>» 

Immigration,  (hiuese,  HI 

International  Working  People's 
Association,  137 

Interstate  Commerce  Commis- 
sion, 100-07;  bibliography,  ti* 

Iron,  duty  on,  37 

Jackson.  Andrew,  Senate  renattre 

of.  66.  7i 
Jackson,    Justice,     and     inconu> 

tax.  iU 
James,  J.  W..  bandit.  iti-SO 
James,  T.    L..   Postmaster-Cren- 

eral,  80 
Johnson.  Andrew,  and  Tenure  of 

Office  Act.  57 

Ka"«fl»,  and  Union  Labor  party. 

147;  and  free  silvtr,  10<i.  419: 

Weaver  carries,  170 
KeUey,  W.  D.,  of  Pennsylvania, 

quoted,  89-90 
Kelly's  "army,"  «0«-O;l,  idOJ 
Kentucky.    McKinley    majority 

in,  819 
Keppler.  Joseph,  founds  mixlern 

school  of  caricature,  51 
KnighU  of  Labor.  180.  l.HO.  13.S. 

146,  8U5.  807 

Labor,  troubles.  liH  el  aeq.,  107- 
170.  805-10;  Commission  pro- 
posed. 131;  Department  of. 
esUblished,  1.18;  Pullman 
strike,    138,    806-10;    Home- 


stead strike,  167-69;  strike  at 
CuKur  d'Altae.  169;  Coxey's 
army,  808,  803-04;  ort;ani/ii- 
tions,  805;  bibliography,  883; 
see  alio  Knights  of  Labor 

Lamar,  L.  Q.  C,  118-13 

Lapham,  E.  G.,  81 

Lore,  C.  B..  of  Delaware.  <|uoied. 
88-80 

McCall.  S.  W.,  The  huninroo  ../ 
Coiigreta.  quoted,  103 

.McKinley,  William,  quoted,  KM); 
tariff  bill,  168-<M.  UH.  nomi- 
nated, 818;  cumiiaign.  81ii; 
elected.  880 

Magone.  Daniel,  109 

Manderson,  C.  K.,  of  Nebraska, 
154 

.Manning.  Daniel,  S<><Ti-liiry  <>f 
Treasury,  143-44 

Maryland.  Cosey'sarniy  in.  804; 
McKinley  majority  in.  819 

.Matthews,  J.  C,  of  New  York, 
115 

Merritt,  (ieneral,  Coll»H-lor  of 
Port  of  New  York.  80 

.Mill.  J.  S.,  opinion  as  to  prepa- 
ration of  legislative  measures, 
31 

Miller,  Warner.  81 

Mills,  R.  Q..  Tariff  Bill,  185-87 

Mis.si.4sippi  River,  .\rthur's 
scheme  for  improvement,  38 

Missouri.  Jesse  James  in,  89-30; 
Union  Lalwr  party  in,  147 

Missouri  Pacific  liuilroud  strike. 
130 

.Monroe  Doctrine  and  (iuiana- 
Venezucla  boundary  dispute. 
1H5 

Montana.  Presidential  procla- 
mation to,  800 

Morey  letter,  17,  149 

Morgan,  J.  P..  186 

Mormons,  legislation  relating 
to,  31-38 

Morri.scm,  W.  R.,  of  Illinois,  and 
Rules    Committee,    93;    and 


2S0 


INDEX 


II 


«  = 


f 


MorriMH) — Contin  ued 
Kandall.  \H  VS.  UO;  and  cum- 
mittee  •yslem.  98;  tariff.  »3, 
105-06,  ltU:oDClevelttiid.  I<4 
MMt.  Juhann.  I30-S7 
"Mugwumpa,"50 
Mullisan  letterii.  Si  (note) 
Murcniion.    ChiirlM.    letter    to 
Sackville-\Yeit,  148-40 

Nation,    quoted,    74,    83,    183; 
on  acta  of  Forty-ninth  Con- 
greaa.  1 10 
National  Civil  Service   Ke^rm 

Leu|{ue,  HI 
N'atiunal     Cordage     Company, 

bankruptcy  of,  174,  173 
National  p  if  iy,  KI8 
National  Prohibition  party,  147; 

tfe  alio  IVuhibition  party 
National  Silver  party,  218 
Nebraska  und  free  silver,  lilO 
Negroes,  politicul  rights  of,  8-3 
Nevada,  favors  free  silver,  100; 

Weaver  carries,  170 
New  Mexico.  Presidential  proc- 
lamation to,  809 
New  York,  GarBeld's  clash  with 

Senators  from,   10-81;  party 

changes  in,  40;  Cleveland  as 

Governor    of.    48-30;    votes 

against  Cleveland,  166 
New  York  City  strikes.  180 
New    York    elevated    railways, 

Cleveland  vetoes  bill  for  five 

cent  fares,  48 
North  Dakota,  election  of  1808. 

170;  Presidential  proclamation 

to,  809 


Oregon,   election   of    1880, 
election  of  1808,  170 


18; 


I    r 


«    ! 


Palmer,  J.  M.,  818 
Pan-American  Congress,  Blaine's 

proposal,  85-80 
Pendleton,  G.  H.,  of  Ohio,  and 

government  reform,  10-18,  13; 

and  civil  service  reform,  88 


Pennsylvania,  slriket,  805;  «m 

alto  Homestead  strike 
Peaiions,     Cleveland's     vetoes. 
116-18.  198:  Dependent  Bill. 
181-83;    Harrison   and.    1.13- 
134;    Dependent   Act  (1890). 
134:  frauds.  134-36;  increase. 
136;  "pork  barrel  bills."  198; 
bibliography,  883 
People's  party,  167 
Phelps.  Judge.  113,  114 
Philadelphia,  Knights  nf  Labor 

in,  189 
Philadelphia  and  Reuding  Rail- 
way Company.  173 
Pinkerton  detectives  at   Home- 
stead strike.  168 
Piatt,  O.  H..  of  Connei'licut,  84, 

83 
Piatt.  T.  C,  of  New  York,  80,  81 
Pollock  M    Farmers'  Loan  an<l 
Trust    Company,    cited,    814 
(note) 
Polygamy,  tee  Mormons 
Populist  party,  818 
Post-office   department,    system 

of  privilege,  198 
President,  reeligibility,  13  (note); 
question  of  succession,  84-83. 
88,  106,  110;  authority,  84; 
appointments.  39-60;  debate 
in  Senate  on  powers  of,  80-88; 
power  to  impose  duties.  137- 
138 
Prohibition,  41 

Prohibition  party,  167.  818;  tee 
aluo  National   Prohibition 
party 
Protcj'tion,  see  Tariff 
Pullman  strike,  138,  800-10 

Quay.  M.  S..  of  Penaiylvania. 
193-96 

Railroads,  strikes,  109,  803, 
806-10;  bibliography,  888- 
883 

Randall,  S.  J.,  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  Rules  Committee.  93, 101; 


INDEX 


«)1 


Randall — Continued 
and  Morrison.  IM-OA.  96;  und 
tariff,  M,  1«0,  147;  and  lolmr- 
ro  tax,  10:J;  and  civil  service 
reform,  110 

Reading  (Penn),  Knightx  <>r 
LalMir  in,  l<» 

RMgan.  J.  H.,  of  Tcxum,  <|uoteil, 
M 

Reed.  T.  H.,  on  Hou.<ie  rules,  0<). 
100;  RiiUm  Cuminittee.  »». 
Speaker  of  House,  I5l-5i.  i\7. 
"Ree«l  rules"  on  quoruni- 
counting.  \S\-M,  19H 

Republican  party,  and  recon- 
struction issues,  1  rt  »fq. ;  con- 
vention of  1880,  13,  1517; 
nominates  Garfield,  10-17; 
factions  in  New  York,  18; 
and  tariff.  3(1;  in  Congress,  .3U 
(note).  58,  lt»,  1.50;  in  state 
elections,  40.  nominates  Blaine 
(1884).  30;  control  Senate,  57- 
5H,  107, 150;legi»lative  achieve- 
ments, 110;  opportunity.  150 
rt  »tq.;  an<l  trusts,  158;  and 
free  silver,  1(!0,  161;  defeat, 
163;  renominates  Harristm, 
10«l;  ro  vention  of  1896,  «18 
River  and  harbor  bills,  34-3.3, 

156 
Rubertaon.  W.  H.,  nominated  as 
('oUeclor  of  Port  of  New  York, 
SO 
Roosevelt,  Theo<lore.  140 
Ryan,  Thomas,  of  Kaniius.  99 

Sackville-West.     Lord.     British 

Ambassador,  UH-49 
Saulsbury,  \V.,  of  Delaware,  110 
Sawyer,  P.,  of  Wisconsin.  117 
Sherman,  .lohn,  84:  party  leader. 
2;    auoted,  i\    candidate   for 
P^idential  nomination  ( 1880). 
16;     ReeoUections,     38,     lUl; 
candidate      for      Presidential 
nomination  (1888),  148;  Anti- 
Trust   Law.    158-59;   on  free 
silver.  161;  on  tariff,  199 


Silver,  Free  Coinage  Act  (1877). 
144-44;  circulation,  144-43; 
Silver  Purchase  Act.  144.  107, 
171,  17tt-:.i;  certificates,  145, 
lt«l;  Windoms  hill.  1.^»-<I0; 
Free-Coinage  Bill  (ismo.  1(J<>- 
IHl;  Harrison  on.  1>14:  issue  in 
1894.  16«l-67;  and  |>anic  of 
18U.1.  174  75.  187:  free  silver 
issue  strengthened,  im-til; 
Cleveland  and.  418;  issue  in 
1896.  418 
1  Single-tax.  I'nitetl  Labor  |>arty 
and,  147 

Singleton.   O.    R..   of    Missouri, 
91 
I   Socialism,  133,  135-36.  I3» 
I   Socialist  Lal»or  party,  1,'«5.  418 
I  South  Carolina  favors  free  silvc^ 
j        106 

I  Snowden,  Congressnittn,  and  Al- 
lenlown  Public  Building  Bill, 
146 

Springer,  VV.  M.,  of  Illinois, 
quoted,  87-88,  07,  98 

"Stalwarts,"  faction  of  Republi- 
can party.  18 

.S/<ir,  Washington,  quoted.  196 

Storm,  J.  B..  of  Pennsylvania, 
99 

Story,  Joseph,  Commfntarim, 
cited,  11 

Strikes.  Kff  Lalior 

Sugar  scandal  investigation,  401 

Supreme  Court  on  omsfifution- 
ality  of  income  tux,  414-10 

Tanner,  James,  pension  itun- 
missioner,  15.3-54 

Tariff,  legislation  during  .Arthurs 
administration,  33-38;  com- 
mission (1884).  .35,  .37;  and 
internal  revenue  taxes,  3<i; 
Randall  on,  95;  Morrison  Bill. 
103-00:  division  among  leaders 
regarding.  140;  Cleveland  on. 
144  45:  Mills  Bill.  145-47; 
Protective  Tariff  Bill.  15fi- 
158;    McKinley  BUI,  164-6S, 


8S« 


INDEX 


TuiS—4'onHHmd 

104;    WOaon    RUI,    ia»-MI: 
bii)lio«niphy,  ifaM 

TMUHir.  V.  W..on  Tkriil  lUi.  IM 

Taxn,  «r«  l-'imioee 

TenncMee  owl  itriket.  109-70 

Tenure  of  ()ffic«  Art.  57,  M; 
Clrveland't  ruesMmr  on,  70, 
llO;rp|iettle<t.  7I>-IM.  Il» 

Texu.  rnion  La>>or  |Mrty  in. 
147;  faviir.H  frii- Nilver,  lOU 

Trxaa  P«ci(ir  Railnwd  Ktrikc. 
IKJJ-30 

Tillman,  Honjamiii,  nf  Siuth 
Carf>lina,  auoted,  H—i 

ToImicco,  r(  MUrtion  of  tax  on. 
IUJ-U4:  tax  on.  1S7 

Tnist!«,  problem  of,  158;  Anti- 
Trust  Uw,  IJ8-A»:  and  tariff 
whodule,    tOi;    bibliography, 

tn 


Union  Labor  party,  147 
l?uite<l  Lalior  imriy,  t4<l.  147 
United  Mine  Worken.  KOS-Ofl 


'United  Sta^n   Imiuatrial 
my."  Mi,  i(u5 


Ar. 


I  f  tab.  rrKulatioa  of  elections  in, 
I  SI^M;  FreMdentialproclMw. 
I       lion  to,  HOU 

'   N'wire,  Z.  B..  of  North  Carolina. 

{     no 

Vent,  (f.  G  .  of  MiMouri,  84.  100 
I  Voorhe*»,  O.  W.,  of  IndiMU.  It, 
'       110  IM 

\Vashin«;ton  (i^tate),  Preaidential 
I       pnx  Ian  «tioa  to,  HOD 
;    Waaliiiiiflodc  Tffiity  of,  77 
'   Weaver,  J     i .  „l  Iowa.  107.  170 
,    West   Vir^iiiia,  itriket  in,  iOS. 
McKinli .  'iiaiority  in,  <19 

NVhite,  Ju!iii.«  K.  !>.,  tU.  tlS 
\   Wilaon,  W.  L  .  IM:  Tariff  Bill. 
j       195-SOl 

I   Windorn,  William,  Swrctarv   of 
I       Treawry,  139 
I  Wine,  (J.  D..  of  Virginia.  108 

Wyoming,    Preaidential    prorla- 
matiou  to.  WO 


HI 


l^HtaBHBB 


